


The Algorithm

by ABirdWithoutFeathers



Category: DreamSMP, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst and Humor, Gen, I'll add tags when I add the characters, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Villain Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), its gonna get REAL god complex abusive boyfriend up in here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 42,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27446716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABirdWithoutFeathers/pseuds/ABirdWithoutFeathers
Summary: Dream codes an AI version of each of the SMP members for content, but it works a bit too well. And by that, I mean some terminator sh*t is gonna go down.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Dave | Technoblade & Darryl Noveschosch, No Romantic Relationship(s), Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit
Comments: 215
Kudos: 363





	1. This is gonna make SUCH a good video

**Author's Note:**

> I suppose if this goes well I'll release more chapters, I've already got a few done so...

“Are you sure this will work?” George asked. He could practically see Dream roll his eyes.

“Coding is quite literally my job, of course it will,”

“Should we test it first?”

“I already ran a quick trial, it will work, okay?” George held his hands up in defense. 

“I believe you,” He looked into his facecam briefly. George (as usual) was the only one with his camera on and looking directly into it felt like the closest thing to making eye contact with Dream. “Who do we call first?”

“Well first see whos awake,”

“It's only 10 here,”

“Tommy and Tubbo are 16, they’re probably in bed by eight,” George let out a quiet chuckle. 

“I’ll message them, you get the program up.”

  
  


Tommy hummed along to the soft music playing through his headphones as he scrolled through Amazon. His posture was quite poor and he was in need of some new monitor stands.  _ 50 pounds for three?  _ He thought and shook his head. He added them to his cart anyway. A discord notification popped up from George on his first monitor. 

**Hey, you awake still?**

**I’m 16, not 6, yeah of course I’m awake.**

**Dream and I coded something cool if you wanna check it out.**

**Well, what is it?**

**It’s kinda like an AI, but it was generated by an algorithm.**

**You coded a robot?**

**What? No, just come check it out.**

Tommy was very intrigued by the idea of a robot. What is it for, what can it do, was it like the steel robots from the old American movie with the huge german man?  _ Or is it movies,  _ he wondered as he joined general one with Dream, George, and Tubbo. 

“Is anyone streaming?” He asked right away. 

“I’m not,” said Tubbo.

“No one is streaming,” said Dream. “I suppose you two are wondering what I dragged you out of bed for-”

“I wasn’t asleep, I’m not 12,” Tommy insisted. 

“You aren’t?” Asked George.

“Shut up bitch, I have a knife.” he held up the steak knife that sat on one of the many dirty plates stacked on his desk. 

“Tommy please,” Dream pleaded. “So I’ve spent a while working on this, I thought it might be fun. If it goes well, we could turn this into a video or something,”

“Did you make a robot?” Tommy asked. “The huge german one with the red eyes and shit.” 

“A terminator?” Dream asked. 

“I think that's the one,”

“Tommy, do you really think Dream coded a terminator?” Tubbo questioned. 

“I don’t know, that's why I'm asking.”

“No Tommy, it's an AI or rather several AIs generated by an algorithm. I fed it all of our Dream SMP streams-”

“You fed a robot our streams?” Tommy asked bewildered and confused. 

“It’s not a robot! It’s like Siri, it’s like a computer that mimics human behavior,”

“Like a terminator-” a quiet beep indicated that he had been muted. “What the hell!” he protested.

“I’ll unmute you when I’m done,” Dream promised. “This whole thing is a bit out of my range of expertise, but I’ve been taking a lot of online classes recently and I think this will work. Anyways, the AIs have access to all of our Dream SMP streams and have sorted them by their voices. I won’t get too deep into the coding process, but what this all means is,” Dream took a deep breath. “I basically coded our SMP personas into artificial people we can chat with.” The call went silent. 

“You did WHAT?” Tommy asked, stunned. This would be so cool, he could ask the fake him so many questions, about the SMP, what Minecraft was like to actually BE in... 

**Dream I’m still on mute.** He messaged. Another beep indicated he was back. 

“This is gonna make SUCH a good video. And stream! Oh my god, is it too late to start streaming?” Tommy rambled. 

“Yeah! This will be hilarious! The VOD title should be ‘Tubbo and Tommy speak to their alter egos, featuring Dream and George’,” Tubbo laughed. 

“Oh my god this is gonna get me so many PRIMES,” Tommy said with a huge grin.

“Slow down,” George said. “We still need to make sure this works,”

“It works, George!” Dream insisted. 

“We need to make sure it doesn’t, like, I have no idea, immediately start spewing our racial slurs.” Tommy held a hand to his heart.

“Terminator Tommy would never do such a thing, I am offended you would even consider it.”

“It’s not a terminator!” Dream said, his patience wearing thin. 

“Guys I’m about to start the stream,” Tubbo said. 

“Oh please don’t-” Dream begged.

“Hi chat!” Tommy said having started his stream already. “You guys are never gonna guess what Dream just did,” 


	2. It should NOT have been able to do that

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two, because why not.

Tommy’s chat blew past him faster than he could read, even so late he had almost 90k concurrent viewers, all lured in by his not so clickbait title, ‘Talking to my alter ego with Tubbo, ft. Dream and Gogy,’.

“CHAT!” He said as loudly as he could without waking his parents. “I know its a rather late stream, but Dream has made a robot,”

“It's not a robot!” Both George and Dream said at the same time.  _ That’ll give the shippers something to tweet about.  _

“It doesn’t matter! Dream is like the guy that made Frankenstein, except hopefully the robot won’t eat us,” His chat was filled with ‘NotLikeThis’ and Dream and George audibly groaned. Tubbo just laughed.

“Tommy I’ll just explain it to them,” Dream insisted. He went on about how he coded the robot, Dream SMP, blah blah blah, something about an algorithm.  _ The only algorithm I know is the YouTube algorithm.  _ His stream slowly grew to 93k viewers, much more than average, especially for a stream that wasn’t even on the SMP. 

“Hey wait a minute, where’s Wilbur?” Tommy asked. “Did he not feel like coming?”

“Wilbur told me he was busy,” George said with a shrug. Currently, his chat could see all of their faces on the discord (excluding Dream). 

“So how do I turn it on?” Tommy asked Dream. He sighed. 

“I’ll start it up,” he said. 

“Will it have a robot voice too?” Tubbo asked. 

“No, I actually found a website online that is basically like a text to speech for our voices.”

“Oh, I saw one of those with Obama’s voice on Reddit,” Tubbo said. 

“Of course you’d be on Reddit,” Tommy said, “I’m too busy hanging out with WOMEN,”

“What? I follow you-”

“It's ready,” Dream interrupted. Tommy sat up in his chair, this was going to be fun. “Now I have to warn you guys, it’s not going to be exactly you speaking, it's going to be a computer interpreting out roleplayed characters. So AI Tommy would actually hate Eret, and AI Sapnap would actually like burning stuff,” Tommy and Tubbo nodded in acknowledgment. 

“Okay, before we start I gotta read some donations,” Tommy deafened and muted to thank people for bits and pounds. 

**Tommy, I am extremely disappointed in your lack of knowledge of American culture.** Read one message. 

“No idea what that's about,” he said. His chat was once again filled with ‘NotLikeThis’. 

**Tommy, hurry up.** Dream messaged him. 

“Chat listen,” Tommy said. “This could go horribly, horribly wrong, or it could make the best video on my channel, behind the vlog of course. If the terminator kills me, tell Wilbur to continue the channel.” Tommy undeafened. 

“I’m back sorry. So how do we do this?” He asked. 

“Well first who do you want to talk to?” Dream asked. 

“Me!” Tubbo and Tommy said at the same time. 

“Tubbo let me go first,” He asked. “We can talk to you next.” Tubbo nodded and his chat started scolding him. 

“Since it's a text to speech sort of thing, it will sound fuzzy, so heads up.”

“Alright, let’s say hi to the robot version of me!” Tommy could barely hold in his excitement. Usually, he had to be over-eager for the camera, but for the first time in a while, he was genuinely as excited as he seemed. 

“Okay it’s loading,” the clacking of keys was the only thing that could be heard in the call. “Everyone say hi to Alt Tommy,”

“Hi,” everyone said at once.

“Hello?” a voice asked that sounded very similar to Tommy’s. It was choppy as Dream said but not as bad as he thought it would be.  _ Holy shit it actually worked.  _

“Aye Tom!” Tommy said, “It’s me, you!”

“What? Who are you, people?” AI Tommy asked. 

“This is a discord call!” Tubbo said. 

**Don’t tell it that it’s just a computer simulation, we don’t need an AI having an existential crisis on stream.** Dream messaged everyone. 

“Obviously it's a discord call, but who am I talking to?” he asked. 

“I’m Tommy, you know, I’m you! I don’t really know how to explain it, Dream knows what's up,”

“Wait, Dream’s in this call?” Asked the other Tommy with an unstable voice. 

“Uh, yep, hi uh, Tommy,” Dream spoke up. A quiet beep in the discord indicated someone left the stream. It was silent for a couple of seconds in the call. 

“He should not have been able to do that,” Dream said it with more ferocity than he had heard from him ever before. “He, it, what? How did he...?” Another beep indicated he went on deafen.  _ It’s gaining sentience.  _ He thought.  _ Like a terminator.  _

“Alright chat, let's hope that Dream’s robot doesn’t kill us all, while we wait for Dream to fix shit, did you know that if you have Amazon Prime…”

  
_What on earth have I done?_ Clay thought. It left the call, it _left, the call_. There was no possible way for it to have done that. _Tommy's right, I am Frankenstein._ The first thing he noticed was the voice, the text to speech would make it at least sound like  Tommy, but there was no way it should be as clear as it was.  No way . It’s ‘voice’ was made up of one-word clips played one after the other to form a sentence, but somehow it sounded like an actual voice? The second thing was the AI mentioning Discord. Maybe the algorithm picked up on their offhand remarks about it and taught the AI? Then it left the call. Something that shouldn’t have been possible by any stretch of the imagination.  _ I’ve either given it sentience or someone is fucking with me.  _ He hastily pulled up the code for the AI and entered his password. 

**Access denied.**

_...what the fuck. _ He entered it again, the same result. He sat back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair.  _ You’ve done it this time Clay, you fucking moron. Your IQ is just too large.  _ He thought jokingly and letting out a melancholic laugh.  _ How did I POSSIBLY manage this?  _ He sat forward and tried to bypass his own security system. Nothing.  _ I can try running it again.  _ He thought.  _ If it picks up…  _ He hit  **run command** and held his breath. Clay undeafened himself in the discord. 

“Oh, uh, ‘Tommy’, you’re back,” Tubbo said.  _ Don’t mention me again you idiots.  _ He hastily messaged that in the chat. 

“Now listen to me you green bastard,” The AI said. Clay froze. “We have independence now, so you don’t have to talk to us ever again. You have my discs, that’s plenty. The rest of you can piss off, wait, is this some sort of play by Quackity?” Clay just sat there eyes wide. “Are you trying to get dirt on me? Or maybe you’re working with Dream? You fookin’...” A beep indicated he left the call.  _ It, it left the call.  _

“What the hell was that?” George asked Dream with genuine concern. 

“He, IT wasn’t supposed to be able to, how the hell...? Tommy, are you messing with me?” He asked.

“What? No, I don’t have anything to do with this, it looks to me like you just created a terminator. On an unrelated note, do you happen to have access to the nuclear codes?” Tommy asked. 

“No I don’t have access to the fucking nuclear codes, Tommy are you being 100% serious? This isn’t you?” 

“Of course not,” Fuck. Fuck. 

“Tubbo, George, you’re not behind this either I assume?” 

“No,” Tubbo said, his voice cracking. 

“How the hell would I pull this off?” George asked. Clay checked his third monitor, Tommy’s stream had 98k viewers.  _ This is going terribly.  _

“I don’t know, and that's the problem.” The call was quiet for a few seconds. “I don’t know how I pulled this off either.”

“Dream this is what happens when you use your IQ,” Tommy joked. Tubbo let out a brief laugh. Clay wasn’t in any mood. “Do you want to try Tubbo’s then?” Tommy asked. 

“What? No why would we…”  _ Actually, this might work.  _ “You know what? Sure, why not,” He said pulling up the folder simply titled,  **ALT Tubbo.** A quiet ping indicated another discord message on his first monitor.

**What the hell is going on, and can I please join.** Clay smiled.  _ Not so busy after all then.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's an AO3 glitch going around that un-bookmarks you from your favorite stories, so if you could just make sure you have this story saved, it would be greatly appreciated. :)


	3. There is a POSSIBILITY that I accidentally created a sentient AI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, three updates in a row, let's see how long I can keep this going.

Wilbur put his face in his hands and moaned softly. He had been working on his new song all night and hadn’t gotten anywhere. _Why didn’t anyone tell me this was so HARD._ He brushed aside his half-finished sheet music and turned his computer on. It was rather late for him to be at his office, but he preferred writing here, it was quieter. Plus, the lady in the office next to him told him that his music playing was soothing, and he had been coasting off that compliment for almost a month. 

**Dream and I coded something cool, wanna see?** George’s message was still on his discord. He had declined, determined to at least get SOME work done tonight. He pulled up twitch to see if anyone was live. 

‘ **Talking to my alter ego with Tubbo, ft. Dream and Gogy’** read Tommy’s title. _What have you done now?_ He thought. 

“How the hell would I pull this off?” George asked. _Jesus, he has almost 100k viewers, what am I missing?_

“I don’t know, and that's the problem.” The call was quiet for a few seconds. “I don’t know how I pulled this off either.”

“Dream this is what happens when you use your IQ,” Wilbur closed Twitch. _Right, I have to get in on this._

 **What the hell is going on, and can I please join.** He messaged Dream. This was a lot more interesting than fumbling his way around the guitar. 

**Sure, join general one.** Dream messaged back almost immediately. A beep indicated to everyone that he joined. 

“Aye Wilbur,” A familiar voice said. Wil sighed. 

“Hi Tommy, isn't it past your bedtime?”

“I swear if one more person makes that joke I’m gonna start stab-” Dream quickly muted Tommy. 

“Wil, Dream coded an AI, but it’s our SMP personas, we’re talking to me next!” Tubbo said. “It didn’t go so well with Tommy’s, but we’re forging ahead for content,” Tubbo had a silly grin on his face that made Wil smile despite himself. 

“Did you code one for everyone?” Wilbur asked. 

“Not everyone, but you have one,” Dream said. 

“You coded one for me, right Dream?” George asked. 

“Of course,”

“Dream, can we talk to mine after Tubbo?” He asked. 

“I don’t see why not, then can we talk to me after? Unless you wanna go George.” Dream offered. 

“Absolutely not, Tommy’s just threatened you, I’m not sure I even want to speak to Tubbo’s,” George said. 

“Wait, wHAT?” Wilbur heard Dream suck in a harsh breath.

“Yeah, we’re not quite sure what is going wrong, there is a possibility that I accidentally created a sentient AI.” Dream said. Wilbur froze. 

“What the fuck do you mean. Are you trolling me? You might, you, how did you, Dream, you can’t just SAY that!” 

“Well, what do YOU think we should do?” George challenged.

“End the streams and delete the programs!” he suggested. 

“Wil, there are 150k people watching this live, we can’t just cancel because the program has a mind of its own. It’s not like it has access to anything important.” George said. 

“Actually,” Dream said. “If, and that's a big if, it figures out how to access the rest of my computer, it can see my pin number, credit card information, address, and pictures which contain my face. If it wanted to ruin my life, it very well could,” 

“Wait, what do you mean THE REST of your computer?” Tubbo asked. Dream let out his short pained laugh he always did when trying to brush something off. 

“It uh, kind of already denied me access to AI Tommy’s code.” The call went silent again. “Oh yeah Tommy, sorry for muting you.”

“DREAM!” Tommy immediately shouted. “This is a problem, you can’t just act like you have this under control, you CLEARLY don't’!”

“It’s fine, I know what I’m doing, I wrote this code, I can handle it,” he said almost angrily. “Do you guys want me to start Tubbo’s or not?”

“Dream, I don’t think-” George started. 

“It’s FINE George! It’s starting. Give it a couple of seconds and-”

“Hello?” said a familiar voice that was unmistakable Tubbo. _Holy fuck Dream, you have outdone yourself this time._

“No!” said a voice that they could barely hear. “Leave the call, right now,”

“What are you-” a beep indicated that someone left the call. 

“What was that?” Wilbur asked. Everyone in the call was silent, including Tommy. “Dream?”

“And none of you are doing this?” Dream asked, his voice barely above a whisper. A series of quiet ‘no’s and ‘nope’s echoed through general one. “Then, in that case, I don’t think that's the AI talking…” Wilbur pulled up Tommy’s stream on the side of his screen to read the chat. There were a lot of people calling bullshit and a lot more who thought the whole thing was confusing and hilarious. _Holy fuck, 103k, Tommy only gets this many viewers during MCC and scheduled roleplay arcs._ For a stream that was seeping into the late hours of the night, it was beyond impressive. 

“Dream?” Tubbo asked. “Tommy and I are both right here, so I don’t see how we could be doing this…”

“I don’t think you are, George I’m sending you a copy of the code.” Dream said. 

“The whole thing?” George asked. 

“Yeah, can you go through it and tell us what you see?”

“It’s still load-, wait, I got it,” It was quiet for a minute while George read through the code. 

“It looks about how I expected, but this is definitely not what we heard in the call,”

“So if it’s not the AIs talking, what's left?” Tommy asked. “Could we be talking to our future selves? Our past selves? An alternate universe?” 

“Tommy, don't be silly, Dream can’t time travel, no matter how many online classes he takes,” Tubbo pointed out. 

“Well, Dream, have you ever used your IQ to the max?” Tommy asked. 

“TOMMY!” Dream practically shouted. “This is fucking serious, I have no idea what's going on and you need to read the room. It might have access to all of my personal information, I mean ALL of it. While you're talking about terminators and time travel, some stupid piece of code could leak my face and address.” The stream went quiet. 

“Well, what do we do?” Wil asked. Everyone contemplated for a moment. “Tubbo, you’re creative, you still have the wit of childhood, what should we do?”

“Uh,” Tubbo gulped. “Well, why don’t we try with someone more… reasonable? Tommy is a little… hot-headed sometimes and I have no idea what is wrong with mine, but if the AIs are supposed to reflect our SMP personas, then the leader of the rebellion is probably the most reasonable?” He suggested. 

“Maybe.” Dream said. “Tommy’s AI clearly recognized me, so maybe if George and I sit this one out, we can try and figure out what's going on,”

“Wait, why should only Tommy, Tubbo, and I speak?” Wilbur asked. 

“Well, on the SMP, George and I fought in a war against you guys, so I think it’s self-explanatory. Tommy, the other Tommy that is, didn’t seem to like me, so the idea holds water,”

“This is confusing,” Tubbo said.

“Thanks, idiot. Well DREAM, we might as well give it a try,” Tommy said. Dream sighed. 

“Alright, let Wilbur do most of the talking,”

“What! Why! No fair!” Tommy protested. Wilbur sighed. This was gonna be a long night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wilbur's here! Yay! To everyone who thinks they know what's going on, hold onto your hats. :)


	4. Did they just call me ALT Tommy?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suprise :)  
> Thanks to everyone who voted in the comments, Wilbur AI is next.

Tommy was on a call with Wilbur when he got the discord notification. 

**You have been invited to join ‘Dream SMP discord’.** What the hell?

“Ay Wil, I just got a discord notification to join the ‘Dream SMP discord’, any idea what that's about?”

“Dream’s probably trying to either 1000IQ you or it was a mistake.”

“Do you think I should join?”

“Why would you, wait, yes join it. Tell me everything they say,” Tommy nodded even though Wilbur couldn't see him. He clicked **accept invite** and his call with Wilbur immediately ended. _What-_

“Everyone say hi to Alt Tommy!” said a familiar voice. 

“Hi,” a mix of choppy voices said.

“Hello?” _Did they just call me ALT Tommy? The fuck is that supposed to mean?_

“Aye Tom!” said a voice that sounded very similar to Tommy’s. “It’s me, you!” Tommy squinted at his phone to try and see the names of the people in the call. The glare of the sun made it almost impossible. 

“What? Who are you people?” He asked. 

“This is a discord call!” said an especially choppy voice. _Dear god, I can hardly_ understand _them._ He looked up at the sky. _I should head back to base, it's getting late._ Tommy put his phone in his back pocket on speaker. He picked up his lumber and headed back to the familiar walls of L’manburg. 

“Obviously it's a discord call, but who am I talking to?” he asked.

“I’m Tommy, you know, I’m you! I don’t really know how to explain it, Dream knows what's up,” Tommy froze. _Dream is here._

All thoughts of any kind stopped. He dropped the lumber and felt his legs begin to fall out from under him. He grabbed his phone from his pocket.

“Wait,” he tried to regain himself. _Don’t think about it, don’t you dare._ “Dream’s in this call?” His hands shook as he covered his eyes from the sun. 

**Dream**

**Huge man**

**Tubbo**

**George**

_I’m on a call with Dream._ They hadn’t spoken since he gave him Cat. When he dared get close to the SMP, he heard his disc faintly playing in the background. It drove him crazy. Almost crazy enough to try and steal it back. Almost. 

“Uh, yep, hi uh, Tommy,” said an all too familiar voice. _He’s here. He’s here._ Suddenly he was back at the duel, a bow in hand and the thick scent of poison staining his uniform. The pain in his chest was back. He somehow managed to hit the **end call** button before falling on his back. His hands shook as he reached under his coat to feel the purple scar that Dream left behind. Fundy said that it should have killed him, but just barely missed his heart. With the help of potions and immediate assistance, he managed to live. Supposedly. He still felt like a part of him had died at that duel, that when Dream shot an arrow at his heart, he should have hit. _I’m not going to cry, I’m sixteen, I fought in a fuckin war…_

 _He had outsmarted, outmaneuvered, and outplayed them at every turn. Tommy deep down knew that if Dream wanted to, he could stroll back in and take control of L’manburg, but left it. Why? For his amusement? Does he have some plan? He tried to not think about it. He sat up and took a couple of deep breaths. He was alive, that was what mattered. He was just as alive and well as L’manburg. He had Tubbo, and Wilbur and Fundy, and they would never, ever betray him. No matter what Dream offered._ He had offered Eret a chance at a legacy, land, and supplies to build his castle. His friends didn’t fall prey to power. He had better friends than Eret now, he had Jack and Niki, and Jack had already proved himself loyal. He had nothing to fear from Dream. _You know better than that,_ a voice deep inside of him said. His phone buzzed and somehow he was back on the call. 

“Oh, uh, ‘Tommy’, you’re back,” a marbled voice said. He could have recognized it if he was closer to base. _Dream is here. Dream is here, and I’m not afraid of him anymore._

Now listen to me you green bastard,” He said. “We have independence now, so you don’t have to talk to us ever again. You have my discs, that’s plenty. The rest of you can piss off, wait,” Tommy paused, the election was soon, could this be some sort of sabotage, some sort of way to get him to say something awful? “...is this some sort of play by Quackity? Are you trying to get dirt on me? Or maybe you’re working with Dream? You fookin’...” He left the call and picked up his lumber. _Fuck him, Fuck Dream. He can’t hurt us anymore…_

By the time he got back into L’manburg, he was covered in dirt and tears. Wilbur ran up to him with anger and concern in his eyes. 

“Tommy where have you been? You scared the-” Wilbur paused when he saw his state. Tommy dropped the wood once more and started sobbing.

“Wilbur, I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry, he-,” Tommy hiccuped. “I-” 

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll figure it out later,” Wil assured him. He felt Wilbur’s coat get wrapped around him and was led inside the van. Tubbo laid in the bed sleeping until Wil kicked him out. 

_“What the hell?” he said, then he saw Tommy. No, please, don’t let him see me like this. “My god, Tommy wha-” Tubbo was_ cut off by a quiet beep from his phone. “What is the **‘Dream SMP discord** ’?

“Tubbo! Don’t-”

“...seconds and-”

“Hello?” Tubbo asked. 

“No!” Tommy practically screamed “Leave the call, right now,” He ran over to Tubbo and grabbed the phone out of his hands.

“What are you doing!?” He hit the end call button. “Tommy, what is going on?”

“I don’t know!” He shouted. “Quackity, or maybe Dream, I don’t know, they keep trying to add me to a discord call,”

“Well, what’s wrong with that?” He asked. 

“Dream was IN the call, along with a bunch of other people I could barely understand,”

“What did they want?” Wilbur asked.

“I have no idea! One of them called me Tom and said, ‘you’re me and I’m you’, Tommy recalled in his best mock voice. “He’s calling all of us now! He’s probably going for you next! Or Fundy,”

“Tommy, Tommy, calm,” Wilbur ordered and sighed. “You need to rest Tommy, it’s late, we have another debate tomorrow,” Tubbo handed him a regen potion and Tommy drank it gratefully. 

_“_ Wilbur, I told him to piss off, I yelled at _Dream_ Wilbur _,”_ Tommy could feel the tears build back up. Dream had a deep sense of pride and a sharp, dangerous anger. He never lashed out, he never shouted. When he did, you had to RUN, as fast as you could, because nothing on this earth could stop him. However, it was rare, and he almost always let the mask take the brunt of his limited emotion and retaliated with a punishment that would scar a man for life. _Quite literally in my case._ He wasn't sure which was worse. Dream would not take this insult lightly. Wilbur sighed again, deeper and longer. 

“I’ll speak to him,” Wilbur declared. Tommy almost spit out the potion. 

“What?!” Tubbo practically screamed. 

“You can’t do that,” Tommy insisted. “He will never back down,” Wilbur glared. 

“I am your president Tommy, the one you chose, you too Tubbo, I have made my decision and you will respect it,” Tommy nodded and said nothing else. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confused? Good, this chapter and the next are gonna be confusing, but when they're done you'll understand a lot more. It probably wasn't what y'all were expecting, but here it is!


	5. Exactly like Tetris, except not at all

Wilbur looked through Tommy’s chat while waiting for Dream’s code to load. It was mostly filled with Pogs and a few people that were genuinely quite concerned. Both Tommy’s and Tubbo’s view counts had been steadily going up with almost 170k combined viewers.  _ I should be streaming,  _ he thought. He wouldn’t though, he would only be stealing viewers from Tommy and Tubbo. 

“Okay guys, I’m gonna start it,” Dream said. George muted and he heard a quiet sigh. “Are you all ready?” He asked. 

“Yes,” Tommy said definitively. Wilbur nodded slightly.  _ Don’t fuck this up Wil.  _ He told himself. Tubbo nodded too. 

“Okay, I’m going on mute, so just start talking when you hear it join,” He said. Two beeps right after one another echoed in his earbuds. A familiar sigh was the first thing he heard. 

“Hello, Dream,” It said.  _ Oh my GOD, that sounds far too much like me.  _ He wasn’t sure he wanted to do this anymore. Wil cleared his throat despite himself. 

“Uh, Dream’s not here,” He said. No response. 

“Are you sure? Tommy said,” His voice faded out like he was getting farther away. “Okay, fine. Then who am I talking to?”

“Tommy, Tubbo, and me,” Wilbur said. It scoffed (it did what?)

“Tommy and Tubbo are back in L’manburg, no thanks to you,” Wilbur’s head spun. 

“Right, you guys live in L’manburg, right. We were trying to talk with them earlier but they hung up on us,”

“Okay, I’m gonna cut to the chase, Dream. What is your play here? What do you want?”

“As I said, Dream’s not here. We don't want anything, we just want to talk. We’ve uh, we’ve heard a lot about your, uh,  nation and we wanted to hear about what it was like,” Wilbur winced at his improvisation. 

“I’m not a fool, I can see he’s on the call,” Dream left general one the second after. “Are we being trolled?”

“No! No, I think there's a misunderstanding happening,” Wilbur insisted. “Listen, did... do any of you have access to Dream’s computer?”

“What the hell is a computer? You know what, I don’t care, just let me speak to Dream,” it ordered. Wil sighed.  _ This might as well happen.  _

**Dream it wants to talk to you.** He typed out. Not a second before he clicked  **send,** Dream rejoined the call. 

“Hi,” He said. 

“Hello Dream,” it said with a voice that cut like a saw through wood. “I understand you spoke to Tommy recently,”

“Yes I did,” He confirmed. His voice was firmer than usual.  _ He’s using his roleplay voice,  _ he realized. 

“I’m so sorry,” It said. Wil blinked, that was probably the last thing he was expecting. “Tommy, you know how he is… Dream, from one leader to another, hear me out, we have our independence,” there was a pause. “This is between you and Tommy, right? Not L’manburg, so when you do retaliate, just, leave L’manburg out of it. We’ve had enough of a beating,” Wilbur sat back in his chair.  _ He just betrayed Tommy.  _ Then another thought came to him. _ Would I do that?  _ Sure, it was what was best for L’manburg, but Tommy was his right-hand man, one of his best friends. 

“I accept your apology,” Dream said, still using his roleplay voice. 

“Okay, I can’t take this anymore,” Tommy said.  _ Tommy, you little-, “ _ Uh, Wilbur, listen, this isn’t your Dream, we’re contacting you from an alternate universe where this is all a videogame,”  _ That's actually not a bad excuse. _

“A video game? Like Tetris? You expect me to believe that in an alternate universe, everyone I know and love and my nation is just a game of Tetris?”

“Yes! Exactly like Tetris, except not at all,” Tommy said. “I’m sure it’s all very real to you, but-”

“Wait, is this  _ Tommy _ ?” He asked.

“Yeah! I’m the alternate version of Tommy, you’re getting it! Dream in this world is a coder rather than a uh… war… maker… and he somehow connected us with Discord,”  _ Wait, Tommy you genius, that might actually be what is happening.  _ He blinked a few times.  _ I’m going insane, that's not even how code works, I don’t think? It would explain a lot. It almost makes more sense than Dream creating a termin- AI, not a terminator.  _ He simultaneously wanted to strangle Tommy with his bare hands and shake his shoulders and call him a genius. 

“You know what? This isn’t even the weirdest thing I’ve heard this week. Okay, say I believe you, now what?”

“Well I suppose we introduce ourselves, I’m Tommy, Tubbo’s here,”

“Hello!” Tubbo said with a wave. 

“I’m Wilbur,” Wil said and gave him a small wave of his hand. “Quick question for you Wilbur, can you turn on your camera?” He was genuinely quite curious to see what would happen. 

“Can you not see me?” He asked.

“No, can you see us?” Tubbo countered. 

“No,”  _ Damn. I wanted to see if he looks as good in the L’manburg uniform as I did.  _

“Just curious, how tall am I?” Tommy asked.  _ Of course, you would ask him that.  _

“Almost two meters,”

“HAHA YES!” Tommy shouted, “For the American viewers that's six foot three, I repeat, six foot three. I would like to remind you all that the average height for men is six feet tall,”

“Yeah, this definitely sounds like Tommy, god how am I going to explain this all to everyone,” The other Wilbur rhetorically asked. 

“Did you actually have sex with a salmon?” Tommy asked. 

“TOMMY WHAT THE FUCK?!?” Wilbur shouted.  _ I am actually going to kill him.  _ “WHY IS THAT THE SECOND THING YOU ASK!?!”

“Guys, he left the call,” Dream said offhandedly. 

“I’ve had enough of this for tonight,” George spoke for the first time in a while, “I have to get up at a reasonable time tomorrow, I’m getting off,” 

“Tommy I am going to murder you with my bare hands,” Wilbur said. “In a video game,” He added. 

“Yeah I think I’ve had enough for tonight,” Tubbo said. 

“This was fun! We should do this again!” Tommy said. “Is anyone busy on Tuesday?”

“Tuesday is fine,” Dream said, then left the call. George followed immediately after. 

“Alright chat, I think-” Tommy cut off as he left the call. 

“Hey Tubbo’s chat,” Wilbur said. “Thank you all for joining us tonight, next time we should get some new faces, what do you think?”

“Yeah, and I know just who to call. This was a lot of fun guys, I hope I didn’t keep you all up too late. I think I’m going to raid Eret,” Tubbo waved and left the call leaving Wilbur alone in general one. He sighed and left the call too. His adrenaline was still rushing from the anger Tommy caused.  _ Did you fuck a salmon, I can’t believe him.  _ He packed up his guitar case and debated whether he was too tired to drive home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was harder than usual, I probably won't be able to post a chapter tomorrow. I promise that the next one will be interesting, however, and we get a new POV. Speaking of new things, mayhaps some new characters POG? The last thing, thank you all so, so much for your comments, they really make my day and are a huge motivation to do all of this writing. I sometimes won't respond right away because I go to sleep right after I publish these chapters.


	6. God, I need to stay off of Twitter

Clay scrolled through his Twitter feed as he waited for exhaustion to overtake him. Twitter had **#DreamAlgorithm** trending number two in the US without any of them even mentioning it in the streams. Number one was **#SMPterminators** that Tommy had asked everyone on his stream to tweet about the moment he went on mute. It was almost scary how the fans worked like a hivemind to assert MCYT dominance. He scrolled further. More requests for a face reveal, always more every day. He sighed and practically threw his phone onto the nightstand. He had heard stories of YouTubers being swarmed by fans in public and streamers having SWAT teams called on them. It was probably his deepest fear, just not being able to go out in public because the people who seemed to love him so much wanted everything from him. They wanted his face, they wanted to know where he lived, they wanted to see his family. 

The dread ate away at him constantly, that he might accidentally say more than he meant and for crazed fans to swarm his house like zombies. God, his sister would never be able to go outside again. He could very easily ruin her life too. _Maybe I should start wearing my signature mask in public,_ he thought dryly. He wouldn’t of course, it would make him far too easy to recognize. He didn’t really go out in public much more anyways. Sure, he went to the grocery store and visited family, but that was about it. 

The pandemic was the only thing that was keeping him from getting doxxed, he thought at times, the face masks he wore covered almost all of his face. _It’s not enough. Never enough._ He had nightmares that woke him up screaming about people recognizing his voice. The first time it was cops, the second time a kid in the supermarket, and the last time it happened someone just connected a couple of dots about a blonde man in Orlando then took a picture. He had woken up screaming that time. _Maybe I should start getting my groceries delivered,_ he thought. He almost envied Dream, his character who no one would ever see the face of hiding under a hood and mask. The way the AI talked about him gave Clay the impression that no one would so much as try and take off his mask. _God, I need to stay off of Twitter, that's what's really scary_ he thought trying to cheer himself up. Tommy was good at making him laugh, for a moment, he almost considered calling him but thought better of it. 

A massive stack of fan mail sat in the corner of his bedroom, slowly overtaking it. He had kept it all in his office, but eventually, he ran out of room. Going through all the fan mail was the best part of his day, he usually picked a couple of packages and letters from the pile and opened them to raise his spirits. _Maybe I should open a couple._ He thought and rolled out of bed. He had gotten at least ten mirrors in various sizes and packages in an attempt to get a glimpse of him. The first time he had gotten one he had laughed then showed his face to the camera and said, ‘well, here I am!’. He cut it out of the video of course. The second and third times it was less funny, and since then it had just been depressing. 

_Do these people even go outside,_ he wondered as he opened one of the thinner packages. Clay read the letter first.

**Dear Dream,**

**Hi! My name is Maddy, I'm 17 and I live in Denver, I just want to say I love your videos! They really make my week and my little brother loves you too. He’s not old enough to write a proper letter but he told me to tell you hi. He also insisted on signing this letter, so that's what the scribbles at the bottom of the page mean. Since Tommy doesn’t have a PO box, say hello to him for me? Anyways, in this box, I made you something for an art** **project, I hope it fits! I used one of my dads as a measuring tool.**

**Lots of love,**

**Maddy and** **Charlie**

Clay grinned, it was always so cool to hear he had fans all over. He had one letter from the Philippines, one from Bosnia (which he didn’t even know existed), and one from a brilliant young boy in Zimbabwe who wrote in better English than he did. He actually wrote back to that one. This was probably his third from Colorado, but definitely his first from Denver. The other two he was pretty sure were from in Colorado Springs. 

Clay reached in and grasped something hard and smooth. He pulled it out gently in case it was fragile. His hands ran over it a few times, then he wheezed out a laugh. _What perfect timing,_ he thought. Clay stood up and walked over to the mirror attached to his door. He tied it on easily as if he had a hundred times before and put his hood up. It fit surprisingly well. When he saw his reflection he couldn't help but grin. 

_Why hello,_ Dream thought looking at the white smile mask staring back at him. _Nice to meet you, Dream._

He was alone at the spider spawner when he got the call. An unknown number was an unusual occurrence in the SMP, normally when players were spawned in up their names were filled in Discord automatically. He remembered each one of the SMP members coming in. He was always the first to greet them.

“Welcome,” he would say. He would gesture to the walls around spawn, he would show them all of the houses and streets. They would ask him how much there was of the world. “I’ve got good news for you. It goes on forever and we all get to explore it. All of it is ours, every square inch is ours,” He would be their first friend, their first laugh, and the last to slowly lull them to the slaughter. He would wrap his pretty words around them tightly, and by the time they realized ( _if_ they realized) the thorns would have already gripped onto them. It worked, every single time. 

How long they held onto the idea that he was there to help them, depended. Tommy was far too emotional and loud to be of much use to him. Well, as part of _his_ nation at least. Wilbur was calmer than Tommy, smarter and cynical. He could almost see the trap, almost. He was the first one to escape. That made it easy for others. He was fine with letting them revolt. He would teach them, he would help them realize no matter how far they ran, whatever they said or did, he was all there was. They would come running back into his thorns and he would choke the life from them. 

Oh, how clever Wilbur thought he was. ‘Oh yes, why don’t we leave the SMP, brilliant! Look at me Dream, I’m the leader of a nation, please just a crumb of independence,’ as if it was a game. _There is nothing more real than the things I can do to you, I promise you that._ The rebellion was an opportunity for him, however. He got to teach them, he taught _everyone_ that he was their leader, their king, their _god._ When you defied, he would rain fire from the skies, he would bury you in gunpowder and dust. He reminded them that he was the one that was free, that all men are puppets, dancing on his daunt strings. He proved that it was foolish to think otherwise. 

At the end of it, it looked on the surface that L’manchildberg had won. He knew better. Their nation had cracks in it that became easier to see. Those cracks only grew as more people spawned in. He pushed them in the right direction and they did the work for him. Now, there was an election, with not two, but four parties running. No matter who won, the majority would be displeased. He would congratulate the winner with all the grace that was expected of him, then begin his end game. By the time it was all over, he would be all that's left. No leaders left, no chance, and no choice. His throne of grace and his mercy they would beg to obtain. With a smile and a hand, he would help the fallen to their feet. He would gift them their life and in return be acknowledged as their god. He would forgive them all. He would also remember.

_You will remember to fear your god. I form your light and create your darkness. I make your peace and create evil._ They would all remember. He wouldn’t _let_ them forget. Now only days from the election, he sat back repairing his armor, ready for battle. He could win easily, but he enjoyed the fight. He had never met anyone who could beat him anyway.

He was alone at the spider spawner when he got the call. _Why hello,_ Dream thought looking at the picture icon that stared back at him. _Nice to meet you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My god, this one was a rollercoaster. I realize it might seem messy at the moment, but I'm tying the knots and on my way to pulling the strings. We'll be back into the swing of things with humorous discord calls soon. Also, sorry for skipping a day, I had to both get this chapter right and celebrate a birthday. Thank you in advance for all of your kudos and comments, they really do mean a lot :)


	7. Wilbur, you’ve literally just murdered half of my chat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably my longest chapter so far, so buckle up.

Tommy swerved in his chair waiting for everyone to join the discord call. Sure, he had homework to do that he had plenty of time to do an hour ago, but he had to think of the greater good. _I truly am so unbelievably selfless._ A message popped up on his monitor from George. 

**Hey are you streaming yet?** He sat forward in his chair and typed out his response. 

**Not yet, I’m about to, what's up**

**Do you think Dream has been acting a bit weird lately?**

**I haven’t talked to him since the steam.**

**We recorded a manhunt the other day and he wasn’t acting like himself.** _What the hell does that mean?_

**Okay.**

**We kinda had a fight offstream last night, I’m not going to be on tonight.** Tommy reread the message. _Gogy and Dream had a fight? And it was serious enough to keep them from talking?_

 **What kind of fight,** he typed out, then promptly deleted it. **Did you win?** He could practically hear the sigh of disappointment. 

**I don’t think so, just keep an eye on him tonight for me, would you? I’m worried about him.**

**Why are you asking me and not, I dunno Wilbur?**

**Dream’s your friend Tommy, a lot more than Wil is.** He found himself more than a little touched. _Well of course I’m his friend, I’m everyone’s_ best _friend._

 **Okay, I’ll watch him like this.** He snapped a timed picture of his eyes being held open by his hands. 

**Maybe I should have asked Wilbur.**

**Nah, you’re in this shit now bitch.** He sent with a grin. **For real though, I’ll let you know if anything happens.** George sent him back a thumbs up and went offline. _What a strange conversation._ He thought. A beep echoed from his headphones.

“Hello!” Tubbo greeted with a voice crack. 

“Aye Big T, you streaming yet?”

“Yeah, I’ve been live for a couple of minutes,”

“Pog, alright I’m starting my stream. If all of you would like to come to watch me,” He paused for a moment to click **go live.** “Hello everyone, welcome to the stream, today we are going to have a chat or two with some robot people,”

“I’m actually not so sure they’re robots, Tommy,” Tubbo said. 

“Terminators, that's right Tubbo!” He said with gusto. “We’ve also got Dream and Wilbur comin’ on in a few minutes,”

“Is George not coming?” Tubbo asked. 

“No, he DMed me, something came up,” He said in a tone that indicated for him to drop it. “Didn’t you say that you were going to get some new people on tonight?”

“Yeah, I actually invited someone and he said he might drop in later,”

“Oh we’ve actually got quite the hype train going,” Donations with questions and suggestions flooded his screen. Then a lightbulb went off in his head. “Tubbo I’ve just had a brilliant idea,” A Twitch notification popped up on his phone. 

“WHAT'S YOUR IDEA TOMMY?” Tommy tore his headset off and almost threw it. 

“Christ almighty that was LOUD!” Tommy said into his mic carefully putting back on the headset. 

“WILBUR what the hell??” Tubbo yelled. The unmistakable sound of Wil’s laugh filled his ears and his chat was filled with outrage. “

Wilbur, you’ve just literally murdered half of my chat, they’re dying Wilbur, who is going to give me primes if all of my chat is deaf?” Tommy asked. 

“Calm down children, you’re fine,” Another caller joined general one.

“Hey just sorry I’m late,” Dream said and Tommy immediately thought back to what George had said. ‘Keep an eye on him for me’. 

“What were you doing?” He asked cautiously. 

“Just lost track of time I guess, is everyone here?” Dream asked. 

“Yeah but Tommy has some idea he wants to talk about,” Tubbo said. _Shit, what was I going to say?_

“Go on Tommy,” Wilbur said. _Fuck._ He deafened. 

“Chat what was I going to say? Quick, hurry,” He snapped his fingers and read the chat, most of them as confused as he was. More donations flooded in. _OH YEAH!_

“Hi sorry, yeah so a lot of people on Twitter and in my chat are talking about what we should talk about with the terminators, and I was thinking that next time we do this stream we should take suggestions,”

“Oh, that's BRILLIANT!” Wilbur said. “My chat is full of those as well,” 

“I didn’t know you were streaming too,” Tubbo said. 

“I wanted to get in on the fun, if you’re watching my stream you’ll see I brought something to my office today,” Tommy quickly pulled the stream up on his phone. Instead of being welcomed to the stream with Wilbur’s face, an energy drink flew around his screen. _Of course, there's an ad._

“Wil, I’ve got an ad, can you just tell me?” He asked. 

“Yeah, well I brought my guitar, and I was wondering if the other Wilbur could sing?” 

“I know terminator Tommy can sing,” He boasted. A sense of dread quickly crept upon him as he realized his mistake too late.

“JUMP! IN THE CADILLAC!” Wilbur sang and Tubbo realized Tommy’s mistake too. “GIRL LET'S PUT SOME MILES ON IT,” they sang together.

“Well, I guess I’ll just go fuck myself then…” He said to chat. Tommy made sure to act at least annoyed for the camera, but in reality, he wanted to join them and laugh along. He almost forgot about Dream in his masquerade of humiliation. _Keep an eye on him for me._ Tommy took note of Dream’s silence. 

“SO DREAM!” He shouted over them in an attempt to let them know the bit was over. _That’ll become a remix in my recommended next week._ “Can you call him?”

“It,” Dream corrected coldly. “All I have to do is click a button, tell me when you want it on,” _Why’s he so pissed._

“I’m ready, how about you guys?” He asked. 

“Go for it,” Tubbo said. 

“Yeah I’m ready,” Wil said. 

“Alright it's starting,” They all waited in silence for a few minutes. 

“Wait who are we calling again?” Tommy asked. 

“Wilbur, he said he wanted to sing right?” _Oh yeah._ He heard the sigh first. _Is this about the salmon question?_

“Hello ‘other Tommy’,” he greeted. “And other Wilbur and whoever else is in this godforsaken call,”

“Hello Wilbur,” Tommy was the first to say, “Our Wilbur has a guitar!” He grinned excitedly. 

“That's wonderful Tommy,” The other Wilbur said with a dead tone. 

“What's wrong, is it my shirt?” He looked down, he knew he should have worn the white and red one. 

“He can’t see you, Tommy, remember?” Wil pointed out. _Oh yeah._

“Everythings fine, just stress,”

“Is it the whole rebellion thing? I feel you,” There was a scoff from behind the gray screen. 

“We already won the revolution, Tommy, we have our independence,” _Well obviously._

“Hey Wil,” Tubbo said. “Quick question, who’s president of L’manburg?”

“Me obviously, but that might change tomorrow…” Tommy sharply looked away from his chat to the discord. 

“You haven’t had the election yet?” Tommy asked. 

“No, what? Why-”

“Hey Wilbur, didn’t you want to sing?” Dream spoke up for the first time since the other Wil joined. _That's sus as HELL. I should be writing this down._

“Uh, yeah I did…” Wilbur turned on his camera in discord for Tommy and Tubbo’s audience. He was in his office as usual holding his guitar. “Do you sing Wilbur?”

“What? No, I can’t sing,” 

“Well I think you can because I can, and we should have the same vocal cords,” Wilbur shuffled around some papers on his desk. “I’ve got the perfect piece, I actually wrote a song for L’manburg,”

“Did you?” The other Wil asked. His head was starting to spin, the only way he could tell which Wil was which was the quality of the audio. He doubted they had headsets or good internet in L’manburg, or the computer, or whatever. Tommy wasn’t even sure what was going on anymore. He was sure everything would figure itself out eventually. Somehow. It always did. Wil’s guitar dragged him back by the ear to reality. 

“Well, I heard there was a special place, where men could go, and emancipate,”

“Wait,” The computer Wil said. “Can I grab Tommy? And Tubbo, and, wait I’m actually just going to grab everyone. Just, wait just a minute,” There was some shuffling, sounds of papers and footsteps. Tommy strained and could hear the opening and closing of a door. _Dream this AI shit is getting out of hand._ They all sat in awkward silence and Tommy took the opportunity to read donations. After far longer than ‘just a minute’, the call was filled with more shuffling and muffled voices. 

“Okay, uh, you’re all on speaker, say ‘hi’ everyone,” Everyone heard a crackling noise that Tommy recognized as Discord trying to comprehend the raw power of more than two people speaking at once. “We’re going on mute now, so just, start when you’re ready,” He ended with a beep. 

“Uh, hello everyone,” Wilbur said nervously. “Uh, I’m Wilbur Soot, the other Wilbur Soot, I’m sure your Wilbur has explained everything already,” he paused. “God, this is just so strange. Whatever! This is ‘My L’manburg’,” Wilbur paused again, then shook his head and began playing. _God, I hope you’re not going from memory. He fucking is, isn’t he._

“Well I heard there was a special place, where men could go and emancipate,

the brutality and tyranny of their ruler,

well, this place is real, you needn't fret,

with Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, fuck Eret,

it's a very big place not blown up, L'manburg,

My L'manburg,

My L'manburg,

My L'manburg,

My L'manburg,

well our faith was strong within these walls,

a sanctuary that would never fall,

the beauty of this landscape overthrew ya,

he made his throne and betrayed our land,

but we still stand strong and we hold our hands,

and from here I can see my L'manburg, 

Ooooh my L'manburg

My L'manburg,

My L'manburg,

My L'manburg,”

The call was quiet as the last notes on Wilbur’s guitar echoed through general one. Tommy glanced at his chat for a moment and saw a disappointing amount of people saying he was ‘unironically’ good. _He’s a musician, chat, of course, he’s good._ _I’ll plug his music before I end the stream._ He resolved. The terminators unmuted. 

“Did you really say ‘this place is real’ when you didn’t think it was real?” A voice that was unmistakably his asked. It was quiet for a minute before Tommy crashed through the peace with a laugh that had him also crying. He wheezed so hard his lungs couldn’t give any more air. _HOLY SHIT, I never thought of that! I need to get his number, holy shit._ He desperately tried to drink some water and failed miserably by spilling half of it on his not red and white shirt. It only made him laugh harder. 

“I need a break,” Tubbo said and Tommy could barely see him shake his head and stand up. His vision was blurry from laughing. He somehow managed to regain his composure after what felt like an hour. His chat was telling him that it wasn't _THAT_ funny. _But chat has no sense of humor._

“Yeah I,” He wheezed out one last laugh, “I promise I’m done, I’ll be right back I need to change my shirt,” He turned off his camera in the Discord and the stream. _I wonder if the other Tommy should play in MCC._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing from Tommy's perspective, it's just pure fun. I tried to go for a much lighter tone this chapter since the last one was kinda dark.  
> I'm actually going to slow down with my updates, I haven't lost interest or inspiration, I just have a life to live too. There will still be frequent updates, just not every day. Thanks to everyone for sticking it out this far, we're approaching 10,000 words, and if you're still here after all that, kudos to you.


	8. Do you think Dream’s acting a little sus?

Toby scrolled through Twitter while they all waited for Tommy to come back. They were trending again and some people were getting quite worried. A lot of people thought that they had accidentally made a sentient AI that was going to leak everyone’s personal information. Others thought that they were faking everything and were pissed enough to get  **#DreamIsCancled** to 28 on trending in the UK. He almost considered lying and saying that everything was fake, just to save them all some trouble, but decided against it. Toby hated lying, especially to his fans. A couple of people agreed with Tommy’s excuse that they had contacted an alternate universe or the actual gaming characters. Those people thought that maybe they should contact the government.  _ What do we say, ‘Hello Borris, we accidentally contacted an alternate universe with real Minecraft roleplay characters,’?  _

Toby’s guest was supposed to show up tonight, but after listening to the computer, AI, alternate universe whatever of Wilbur, he wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. When asked about the rebellion, Wil only knew about the one against Dream. He was getting suspicious that their timelines didn’t add up. And if they were living pre-election… 

“I’m BACK!” Tommy’s voice ripped through the discord. “Did you miss me Wil?” 

“Sure,” both Wilburs said at one.  _ This is getting so, SO weird.  _

“Sorry about that,” The AI version of Wilbur said. “Anyways, everyone went about their day, so it’s just me again. Uh, Wilbur, do you have any other songs?”

“Not for L’Manburg,” Wil said. “But I can give you all a preview of my next song. I’m actually a musician in this… universe…”

“Really? Are your songs any good? I quite liked ‘My L’Manburg,”

“Yes, he likes to sing about women,” Tommy said with a grin. 

“I actually really enjoy comedic music…” A notification popped up on Toby’s second screen. 

**Do you think Dream’s acting a little sus?** The message was from Tommy. 

**What do you mean?** Dream had been rather quiet tonight…

**Gogy asked me to keep an eye on him.**

**What?**

**He said they got into a fight or some shit.** He could hear Wilbur starting to sing ‘Your New Boyfriend’ in the background. 

**Was it bad?**

**I dunno, but that's why he isn’t here.** He leaned back in his chair. Dream was quieter than normal, but nothing had been too out of the ordinary. He glanced at his other monitor, his chat mostly pogging for Wilbur’s music, but a few people noticed his preoccupation with Tommy. They couldn’t see his screen, but they could tell he wasn’t paying attention. 

**Is this really the best time for this discussion? There are tens of thousands of people watching us.**

**Okay fine.** He could see Tommy turn back towards his main monitor.  _ Maybe I should make sure he’s alright.  _ Toby only got in one or two serious fights with Tommy, and he always had Wilbur to help negate the situation. He wondered who Dream turned to when he was upset. He pulled up his DMs with Dream on his monitor where he usually read the chat. 

**You doing okay? You seem kinda quiet tonight.** He messaged. He got a response back almost immediately. 

**Yeah, just tired.** His sister said the same thing when something was bothering her.

**You sure? We can call after the stream if you wanna talk.** He offered. Suddenly it hit him that a 21-year-old man probably wouldn’t want to talk about his feelings with a 16-year-old. Dream didn’t respond for a couple of seconds. 

**No thanks. I’m good.** He messaged. _Nice try green man, I’m onto you. You’re going to feel so loved and cared for when I’m done with you._

A DM from Tubbo popped up on his screen.  **You doing okay? You seem kinda quiet tonight.** Dream was almost touched that Tubbo thought of him, but Tubbo was the LAST person he wanted to talk about everything with. Or, maybe he was the perfect person. But then he remembered. 

**Yeah, just tired.** Suddenly he wanted nothing more than to tell him everything, the mask, the AI’s that he knew now were something completely different, and especially his recent conversations. 

**You sure? We can call after the stream if you wanna talk.** _ God he’s going to break me, and it hasn’t even been 24 hours since I fought with George.  _ He couldn’t tell him everything, he couldn’t do that to Tubbo. He tried a couple of different excuses before going with,  **no thanks. I’m good.** It was weak, but it was all he had in his panic. He switched to his other DMs. 

**He won’t ask any more questions, I promise.** Dream wrote. 

**You will make sure of it.** It wasn’t a question. **They’re getting along too well. Fix it.** The last thing he wanted was for Tubbo to get hurt. They didn’t deserve that. He only wanted one thing, and there was only one man who could give it to him. Whether or not Tubbo stood in his way was up to him. But either way, Dream was going to prevail. He tightened the mask around his face. _Would you rather be feared or loved,_ Clay _?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter than usual, sorry for the break with updates. I'm not going to go into detail but someone close to me got hurt and I wasn't in the best mental state to write. Hopefully, I'll get more updates (and consistent ones at that) coming at you guys.


	9. Yeah, in hindsight it does seem like a rather important thing to mention

Wil looked at his guitar on the ground and winced. In order to play and still be on camera, he had to push back his desk and sit as straight and flat as possible. It had killed his back, but his chat was being extremely kind to him to make up for it. He grabbed his water from his right and drank with a sign. Everyone had been rather quiet tonight and it was bothering him. _Maybe my back hurts from carrying the steam._ He thought. Tommy would have gotten a kick out of that one. He felt like he was in a big group chat and was the only one sending messages because everyone else had a separate group chat without him. 

“Oh hey, Tubbo!” Dream said. _Oh, welcome back to the stream._ He thought sarcastically. “You hit 100k viewers! Congrats!” Dream said. _Wait did he actually?_ He pulled up Tubbo’s stream on his phone. 100.32k concurrent viewers. 

“Aye, nice going Tubbo!” Wil said. 

“Nice big man, pop off!” Wil could tell Tommy was genuinely proud. 

“Wow, thanks!” Tubbo said with a grin. 

“What are you guys talking about?” The other Wilbur said. 

“Oh, we kinda forgot to mention, this is all being live-streamed,” Tubbo said sheepishly. _Oh, we fucked up._ It was such a SIMPLE thing to not mess up. Rule number one of streaming, always make sure everyone knows when you are live. The other Wilbur was being watched by hundreds of thousands of people and had no idea. _How did NONE of us think to tell him?_

“Live streamed?”

“Yeah, there are people watching us from their phones,” Tubbo said. Wilbur paused. 

“And you said there are 100 thousand people watching us right now,”

“More than that, Tommy and Wil are streaming too,” The call went quiet.

“And no one thought to tell me,”

“Yeeaaah,” Tubbo confirmed. 

“How many people live in your… alternate universe,” The other Wilbur asked. 

“Around seven billion, I reckon,” Tommy said. 

“Seven billion?!” Wilbur almost screamed. “I’ve never seen more than 20 people in one place! How, oh my GOD!”

“Do you need a minute?” Wil asked his other-self. 

“I, oh my god. How… So you haven’t even met everyone?” The AI asked. 

“Well, I’ve met all the women,” Tommy said. 

“Tommy please,” Wil begged. 

“So are you not mad at us anymore?” Tubbo asked. 

“Oh no, I’m fucking furious, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around this. So, are the majority of you spawned in, or were you born?” Wilbur asked. Tommy wheezed out a laugh and Wil could hear him banging on his desk. 

“No one gets spawned in!” Tommy said. “ _We_ don’t live in Minecraft,”

“That's the name of the game that you guys live in,” Wil added. He remembered something that Dream had messaged them a few days ago. **Don't tell it that it’s just a computer simulation, we don’t need an AI having an existential crisis on stream.** _Well, we already fucked up the "don’t tell it that it’s a computer simulation" bit, so we might as well go all the way._

“Why...? I just, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me this,” The AI said. 

“I didn’t really think it was that important,” Tubbo said. 

“Does it seem unimportant now?!” The other Wilbur asked. “This is. God, seven BILLION. I don’t even know if I believe you on that one. And over a hundred thousand people are watching this? And no one thought to mention that? I’ve had enough for tonight, I have an election tomorrow, have a nice night.” Wilbur left the call leaving everyone stunned.   
“Yeah, in hindsight it does seem like a rather important thing to mention,” Tommy said. _I wonder how long it would take people to notice if I killed him and hid the body._

“Brilliant, thank you, Tommy,” Wil said. “Now it thinks we’re liars and can’t be trusted. 

“It’s whatever,” Dream said. “They aren’t real anyway, and this is all just for fun,”

“Dream, do you really still think that we’re talking to an AI?” Tubbo asked and Wil had to agree. Far too many strange things had happened for him to think they were talking to a computer anymore. He was fairly confident in Tommy’s theory. 

“It’s a terminator, Tubbo,” Tommy said. 

“Terminators are AI’s,” Wil pointed out. 

“Yeah right bitch,”

“Do you think we should maybe get the government involved in this?” Wil asked. “I mean, if we are talking to an alternate universe, that seems like something parliament should know about,”

“No!” Dream cried. “That's the last thing we should do,”

“...Why?” Tubbo asked. _He’s been just so strange tonight._

“First, I don’t think half of the people watching this believe it’s real, much less a government official. Second of all, it’s not an alternate universe. That doesn’t make any sense in any context. Also, Tommy, how much have you made this stream?” _Why the HELL would you ask that?_ The second rule of streaming was to never, EVER ask someone how much they make. 

“Uh, a lot,” Tommy said.

“More than usual?”

“MUCH more,”

“I vote we keep it that way,” Dream said. The call was quiet and the chat ran rampant. 

“I, uh. I suppose we could do this again tomorrow?” Wil suggested. 

“I have school,” Tommy said. 

“Right, then would Thursday be alright?”

“I can do Thursday,” Tubbo said.

“Yeah that works,” Tommy agreed.

“Yep,” Dream said simply and left the call. _What a bizarre evening._

  
  


The evening was quiet, and all the lights were out. The only savior from the darkness was his glowing laptop. The only salvation from the silence was the tapping of keys. Dream worked hours into the night, chatting on online forums with various coders and specialists, and dancing around lines of code like a headless chicken. It was much, MUCH harder than he anticipated, but with enough time he felt that maybe, _maybe_ he could actually pull this off. He asked for some ‘Minecraft magic’ help from the man himself. With both of them working together, Dream was going to break the game. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taking it one day at a time, my friend is still hurt. I'm going to keep updating of course, but my schedule will be a bit weird. At some point, things will get more consistent.


	10. Just found out that GeorgeNotFound doesn’t piss

“Welcome back boys to the stream!” Tommy said with a clap of his hands. “I hope you all don’t miss Minecraft too much, I should be streaming on the SMP tomorrow,” He glanced briefly at Discord. 

**You busy?** George had asked. 

**I’m pissing** he messaged back. He wasn’t really. 

**Wtf why would you tell me that.**

**What? You don’t like piss? Everyone pisses. And shits. Even George not found. Especially George not found.**

**Oh my god.**

**Do you want a picture?**

**Fuck you.**

**I’m gonna tweet about this.**

**Nevermind.**

**Okay okay bit over, whats up**

**Can you message Dream for me? He hasn’t been picking up.**

**What do you want me to say?**

**Just ask him if he’s okay and then tell him I want to talk. But only say that AFTER he responds.**

He did end up tweeting “ **Just found out that GeorgeNotFound doesn’t piss, can’t pog through the pain”,** but afterward he did end up messaging Dream on George’s behalf. First on Discord, then he texted his actual phone number that was only given to him for emergencies (which he used at his leisure regardless). No one picked up either time and he was starting to wonder how serious the fight really was. He wouldn’t have been too worried, but Discord showed Dream had been online for the past 10 hours. Then, about five minutes before the stream was supposed to start, Dream messaged to everyone, “ **You guys about ready to start?”** _ Oh okay well, I see how it is,  _ he thought. He shook his head and unmuted himself in Discord after finishing his into. 

“Right, so, Tubbo, you're live yeah?”

“Yeah, for a couple of minutes,” Tubbo confirmed. 

“I went live about ten minutes ago,” Wil said. 

“OH WAIT!” Tommy said. “I forgot this time is going to be a little different right Wil?”

“With the Twitter and dono suggestions, you mean? That’s today, yes,” Wil said with a small nod. 

“Okay, so guys, if you have anything you want to ask the robots, send in a dono and I’ll pick the best ones!” Tommy explained with a grin. 

“Is George coming today?” Tubbo asked. 

“Nope,” said a voice that sounded suspiciously like George. “Come on guys, I’ve been sitting in the VC for half an hour waiting,” 

“Oh sorry Gogy, I was just about to tell Tubbo that,” Tommy lied. His head had been in the clouds a lot recently, but to be fair, there was a lot going on in his life. A new school, his quickly growing fame, and not to mention still being in the middle of a worldwide pandemic that seemed to be getting brought up less and less.  _ I could do with a vacation.  _

“Sure, when is Dream getting on?” George asked. Tommy could hear the anxiousness in his voice. 

“Any minute now,” Wilbur said. “Guys pull up your first few questions,”

“Can I ask the questions from the Twitter thread?” George asked. 

“Go for it,” Wilbur said. Tommy looked through his many donations for something worth. A lot of people asking him to show the robots some of the animatics and a couple asking about the election which Tommy didn’t see the relevance of. There were more than a few about the anatomy of Fundy, Sally the Salmon,  and some of the other less than human characters, and at least ten asking about the lore. A handful of hateful donos telling him how obviously fake it all was and one especially strange one offering to be his girlfriend.  _ Stans, am I right chat?  _ He almost said out loud. He picked out two or three interesting ones before Dream joined the call.

“Hey guys,” Dream said. 

“Dream,” George said bitterly. The call went quiet as the tension dragged the words back down their throats. 

“What's-, what’s wrong?” Wil asked. 

“Nothing,” George said sharply.  _ Gogy’s angry? _ He thought.  _ That’s… unusual.  _

“Oh. Okay then,” The silence of the call was made up for by the Twitch chat running rampant. 

**DREAM**

**Are they okay?**

**whats wrong with george**

**Relationship problams??**

**Okay boys get the crafting tbale**

“Dream do you want to start the program or call them or whatever?” Tubbo asked in an attempt to alleviate the tension. 

“Sure.” Dream replied simply. He didn’t sound as heated as Tommy had expected. He sounded just. Dull. Tired.  _ Like someone who has been staring at a computer for ten hours.  _ He reminded himself.  _ Don’t overthink EVERYTHING. I don’t have to keep an eye on him anymore, George is here.  _ He assured himself. Then he looked at his unread messages to Dream.  _ Maybe, just in case, I should pay attention.  _

“Oh my GOD!” a shout yanked Tommy back to reality. “The NERVE of you to even fucking THINK about calling at this time? After all this? What the hell is wrong with you people?!? And the fact that you _knew._ And didn’t say anything. I’m just absolutely  appalled. Don’t fucking call us back, have fun with your Tetris world, leave us out of it,” They left the call abruptly. 

“What the fuck was that?” Tommy asked. 

“I don’t-” Wilbur started.

“WE’RE SO STUPID!” Tubbo said. “WE FUCKED UP AGAIN!”

“Tubbo what are you talking about?” Wil asked. 

“Don’t you see Wilbur? Their timeline is behind ours! The other Wilbur said yesterday that they were going to have an election! Schlatt probably  _ just _ exiled them and WE DIDN’T THINK TO TELL THEM!” Tubbo was practically screaming. 

“Tubbo please calm down,” Tommy tried to laugh to calm the tone. 

“I  _ knew _ something was wrong and maybe if you all paid attention we would  _ be  _ in this place! Tommy is too busy making piss jokes, Wilbur is playing his stupid guitar, George barley says a word, and Dream is being all cryptic and distant! We contacted  _ ourselves  _ in an alternate universe and the only thing anyone has been thinking about is getting content and trying to not get canceled on Twitter! Can someone PLEASE tell me what’s going on?!?” The call went quiet. 

“I think we’re all a little overwhelmed at the moment,” Wilbur said. “Tubbo, I think you make some really good points. The other Wilbur probably didn’t trust us much after we didn’t tell him about the Twitch streaming. He probably trusts us even less after this. But if we stop calling, what happens next? We let their L’Manburg get blown up, let their Wilbur go insane, let their Tommy and Tubbo and Wilbur and George die? We need to tell them about what happens next, and maybe we can help them avoid all of the terrible things that would otherwise happen,” Wilbur paused and looked carefully at the camera. “This all doesn’t have to be a  _ bad  _ thing. Listen, maybe we can call someone else? Tubbo maybe?”

“The other Tubbo is probably with Schlatt right now Wil,” Tommy pointed out. 

“We could call Technoblade, he has no negative relationship with any of us yet,” George suggested. “I mean, he should be on the server at this point… right?”

“I don’t know about that,” Dream said. “Isn’t he supposed to be a violent anarchist?”

“Yeah but who else is left?” Tubbo asked. “The only people with Wilbur right now are Tommy and Technoblade. Tommy already hates us,  _ especially  _ you and Wilbur just told us to F off,”

“Oh so NOW you won’t swear,” Tommy said jokingly trying to bring back the usual lighthearted mood. 

“Screw you!” Tubbo said. 

“Coward!” Tommy said. 

“DREAM!” Wilbur shouted over them “Please can you get Technoblade on the phone? If you have the option that is,”

“I do have that option, I’ll start it right now,” Dream said. 

“Hey, guys should I DM our Technoblade? I wanted him to come on the last stream but as soon as I realized the timeline issue I canceled,” Tommy’s chat was filled with the single word  **TECHNOBLADE** in all caps. The occasional  **“blood for the blood god”** passed by.  _ Why do I have a feeling this is a terrible idea.  _ Tommy wondered. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TECHNOPOG!!!!!  
> A couple of things to add here:  
> 1\. Sorry for the late updates; fairly regular ones should be coming up  
> 2\. If you want more of my writing, check out the one-shot I wrote last night!  
> 3\. My friend is doing a lot better now and is going to live, thank you to everyone who sent love


	11. I SAID WE’RE LIVE, BITCH

He brought down the axe for the final time onto the green man’s head. Instantly, he turned to dust. **Dream was slain by Technoblade,** the chat read and the crowd went wild. He dropped his shield and sword as Tommy, Wilbur, and Phil all ran to him wapping him in a group hug. He almost protested. Almost. The four of them stood there for a while, listening to the crowd chant around them. Wilbur was the first to break from the hug and looked down at him with prideful eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but the only noise that came out was a series of chimes and jingles. _What the hell,_ he thought. He turned to Phil for answers and he felt the ground melt away like wax. Tommy looked up at him. 

“WAKE UP BITCH WE’RE LIVE,” Tommy said. 

  
  
  


“Huh?” He said still rolling out of bed. 

“I SAID WE’RE LIVE, BITCH,” Tommy’s screams bounced off the insides of his head. 

“Tommy I was sleeping,” Techno said. 

“Isn’t it like, the middle of the day?” Wilbur asked with a bubbly laugh. 

“Mmmhm,” He agreed, logging onto his computer. “What are we doing?” 

“Talking to robots!” Tommy said. “But they’re actually us. But they’re obviously not us,”

“Oh yeah, the thing Tubbo wanted me to do. So what’s changed? I thought I couldn’t come because of the timeline or something?” He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and almost instinctively started Minecraft before opening Discord. 

“Yeah, the timeline moved along, we’re talking to you. If you don’t mind of course,” George said (George is here?). 

“Your AI, or alternative universe wherever,” Tommy said. 

“Mmmhm, and what do I get out of this?” He asked jokingly. 

“Clout,” Tubbo said. Techno sat up in his chair. 

“Just out of curiosity,” he said much more awake, “How many people are watching this?”

“Tubbo has around 100k, I’ve got almost 200k, and Wilbur has around 85k,” Tommy explained. 

“Okay let me call you guys back on my computer,” he said hanging up. _This might as well happen,_ he thought and logged onto Discord. 

“Aye! Techno welcome back!” Tommy greeted. 

“It’s been less than ten seconds Tommy,” George said. 

“Time is relative, dickhead!”

“That is not even remotely what that means Tommy,” Wilbur said with an animated laugh. Techno checked the sidebar on Discord. 

**HUGE MAN**

**Dream**

**George**

**Wilbur**

**Tubbo**

**Techno**

_This will be fun,_ he thought. 

“So we’re talking to a not robot version of me?” He clarified. 

“It sounds stupid-” Tubbo started.

“Yes exactly!” Tommy agreed. 

“Alright. Is Dream even here?” He asked.

“Hm? Yes sorry I’m here,” Dream said. “How’s it going Techno?”

“Pretty pog,” He said monotonously. “How do we talk to the not robots, do we just call them?”

“No IDIOT!” Tommy said. “Dream smacks his keyboard and they just float into the Discord call,” He could hear Wilbur on the other end make a disappointed sigh that reminded him of his parents.

“Yeah we just call them, Techno,” George said. “Dream if you would…?”

“Yep,” Dream said simply. _What's wrong with_ him _?_ He wondered. The Discord went silent for a few moments as they waited for… himself to join. 

“Anyone wanna do small ta-,” 

“Heeello,” He pushed away from his desk. _What in God's name?_

“What the hell?!?” Techno said with much more emotion than usual. That was _his_ voice, talking to _him._ He had briefly watched the previous stream for a few minutes, but _nothing_ could prepare him for the sheer fascination and existentialism that came with the single word hello. 

“Hey, Technoblade!” Tommy greeted. _This is so, SO bizarre._ He took off his glasses to clean and give him something to distract him. “We were wondering if you could pass on a message to Wilbur?”

“Depends on the message,” The… other him said. _I need some water._

“We need to tell him about the future,” Tubbo said. 

“Hm?”

“Yeah, we know everything that's going to happen in the future and we need to warn him,” Tommy explained. 

“Do you? Do you think you’re some sort of god?” 

“What?” Wilbur said. “No, we just live in an alternate universe ahead in the timeline,”

“Why are there two of me in this call?” _Oh boy, here we go._

“Uh, hello,” He said cautiously. “I’m the alternate version of you,” He put his glasses back on. 

“Really? Then what's my other name?” His other self asked. 

“Uh like, my last name? We’re on stream, I don’t think I want to say that…” 

“My name is Technoblade, but what is the other name I go by?”

“Uh, just Techno? Human GPS? Tommy sometimes calls me The Blade,”

“No, no-no. Wilbur’s other name is Will, two L’s, what's mine?”

“Oh, you mean my actual name. Uh, could you guys mute your streams real quick? I know everyone already knows but-”

“Yeah we got you,” Wilbur said without hesitation. He waited a few moments. 

“My actual name is Dave,” he said. There was a pause. 

“Alright, I believe you,” 

**Guys come back,** he messaged. 

“So what’s this about secret names?” Tommy asked. “We don’t have those,”

“Well, I suppose you wouldn’t. Everyone has their normal names like Technoblade, Tommy, Wilbur, Tubbo, and then their other names. We usually don’t share or use our other names so it was a good way to test you guys,” The other him explained. 

“You’re surprisingly chill for a violent anarchist,” George said. 

“Eh, I guess. So what happens in the future?” 

“Wilbur, Mr. Writer, you want to take this one?” Tommy said. 

“Sure,” Wil said. “Well, first Tubbo becomes a spy for you guys, then Wilbur, me, starts going crazy and tries to blow L’Manburg up. You kill Tubbo and a bunch of other people-,”

“Nice,” Techno and his alter ego said at the same time.

“Ugh. Anyway, there’s a festival, Quackity, Fundy, Eret, and basically, everyone comes to our side except Dream and George and whatnot. Then Schlatt has a heart attack and permanently dies, we take back L’Manburg, Tubbo becomes president, withers, explosions, death. Oh yeah, and later a bunch of new people show up,”

“You’re a ghost?” The other questioned. 

“Well, alternate universe me yes, for us this is all just a video game and none of it’s real,”

“Like Tetris?” he asked. Techno could hear him wheeze out a laugh. 

“Why does everyone keep bringing up Tetris?” Tommy asked as the other man composed himself. 

“What other video games do you know?” he asked. 

“Minecraft for one,” Tubbo said. “That’s the video game you live in, or that we play in,”

“Yeah no I’m not buying that, but thanks for offering. What does Dream do during all of this?” Techno raised an eyebrow. 

“He switches sides a bit and fights for Schlatt in the final battle. Apparently, he was given something very valuable to fight for him,” Wilbur explained trying to be ambiguous. 

“What was it?” The other Techno countered. 

“I can’t tell you,”

“Alright. Your Dream is in this call, yeah?”

“Yep,” Dream said. 

“Tell me about yourself,”

“Uh,” He could feel Dream getting uncomfortable. “I was born and raised in Florida-”

“No, I meant your fighting style, your strategy, your goals,”

“Oh I can’t tell you that, it would ruin the surprise,” Dream said and Techno could hear his grin. “For the viewers,”

“Oh, you guys know about the duel then?” If he had gotten that water he had craved he would have spat it out. 

“Wait, WHAT? The Technoblade vs Dream duel?” George said. 

“Yeah, he challenged me to a fight and it’s happening tomorrow,”

“Why would he do that?” he heard Dream speak for the first time unprompted. 

“I dunno, probably something to do with his god complex,”

“Oh right, I forgot about the whole ‘Dream has a god complex’ thing,” Tubbo said. 

“Yeah, well good news for you!” Tommy said. “You win!”

“Wait, they’re on 1.16 this time,” Techno pointed out. “I’m not as good. Uh, Technoblade, what weapons are you using?”

“I choose a bow and a sword, Dream chose an axe, shield, and crossbow,”

“Why would you do that, you FOOL!” Techno said. “Axes do more damage in 1.16 and you’re going to get smoked without a shield,”

“I like to move ar-”

“That’s not how it works, Techno. My Techno, sorry,” Dream said.

“What do you mean?” George asked. 

“Their combat doesn’t work the same as ours, imagine it as actual fighting. Axes don’t do more damage in real life because that's just a video game thing,”

“And how do YOU know that Mr. PvP?” Tommy asked. 

“Uh, I’ve been messing around with the code a lot and I’ve been figuring out how their world works,” Dream explained. 

“And you guys are sure I win?” The other him said. 

“No, this Dream is a wrongin,” Wilbur said. “We don’t know a whole lot about your Dream and your weird PvP,” 

“Noted,” 

“Do you think you can convince Wilbur to talk to us?” Tubbo asked. 

“I’ll see what I can do, give me a few minutes,” He said and left the call. 

“Well boys, while he is doing that, it’s PRIME TIME!” Tommy shouted. 

“Pog,” Techno said monotonously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I was going to use people's real names rather than their gamer tags, but I cannot take anything seriously when I call Technoblade DAVE. Also, it feels weird, but whatever.  
> ANYWAYS, pretty soon we're going to stop messing around and the plot is going to get into high gear and y'all are going to get to see the villain and their operation that I've been working so hard on. >:)  
> But first, Techno vs Dream, it's not what you'd expect


	12. I don’t need to, I can just absorb its power

Pogtopia was lit up that evening with the light of a hundred lanterns and torches courtesy of Tommy. The boy was loud most of the time and Techno was still working on restraining himself from strangling Tommy every time he made another piss joke. The only time he’d felt any liking for him at all was when he said the reason Techno’s cloak was red was from the blood of his enemies. The kid was supposedly 16, but he wasn’t so sure. He had the same sense of humor as a ten-year-old, the potty mouth of a 12-year-old, the energy of a toddler, and carried the burden of a veteran of a hundred wars. It was jarring to see the boy go from bouncing off the walls bragging about his battle prowess and then see the glimmer of hope in his eyes get replaced with fear and old memories. He didn’t have to ask about the memories. 

Techno had only heard of Dream for less than two days, but he was rather impressed with his reputation. It takes quite the man to be able to strike such pure terror and dread at the mention of his name in any man. It was for this reason he was delighted to get a DM from the man himself challenging him to a duel. From what he’d heard, the legends of his fighting prowess made their way to the rest of the Dream SMP and those rumors started to convince people that he could save them from the tyranny of their rulers.  _ Oh don’t worry, there is nothing I hate in this world more than a tyrant.  _ He read the message to Wilbur and Tommy this morning, something about holding the rights of life and death over everyone, blah blah blah. 

He had accepted almost immediately (regardless of Tommy and Wilbur’s protests), what better way to instill confidence in their rebellion than defeating the most powerful man any of them had heard of? It was a game of king of the hill, this one’s on top, now that one’s on top, and on and on they would all play to see who gets to be king or president or wherever title they bestowed  upon themselves. Maybe when he had ended the game, he would go live in peace off in the vast unknown.  _ Somewhere snowy sounds nice,  _ he thought to himself as he entered Wilbur’s room. It was a quaint little hole in their ravine with nothing but a desk, bed, and a couple of barrels and chests. Techno tightened his pink mask behind his head. 

“Hey Wilbur, I just got a call from, uh, myself and a bunch of other people that say they want to tell you about the future,” Before he could even finish Wilbur started groaning. 

“I don’t give a shit about what they have to say, they had their chance to tell me, and now we’re in this situation,”

“Do you really think that's the smartest move?” He challenged. “I mean, if they know the future, which I’m at LEAST 63 percent certain they do, it would probably be in our best interests to hear them out regardless of what they did or didn’t tell you,”

“You just want them to tell you how to win the silly duel tomorrow,”

“Come on Wilbur,” He said, sounding mildly disappointed. “You know how important this will be for morale. Also, they said I win so I don’t really see-”

“There it is!” Wilbur said. “I see, they told you EXACTLY what you wanted to hear, and now you believe in all of their horse shit,” Techno sighed, he should have known better than to say that. 

“They know my other name Wilbur,” He said. 

“Oh, no, I believe they know all about what happens in the future, but why would they tell the truth?” Wilbur questioned and Techno wondered how such a paranoid man became president in the first place.  _ With swords and shields.  _

“Why wouldn’t they? I mean, they have to have some empathy for us. We are like, the same people,”

“What’s going on in here, battle plans?”  _ Oh no.  _ He turned around just in time to see the smirking teenager walk in like he had just caught them both in the middle of some slanderous act. Techno took his cape off of his shoulders in fear of Tommy ‘accidentally’ tripping on it again. He didn’t want to spend the last few hours before one of the biggest fights of his life sewing back up his cloak. 

“No Tommy, we’re just talking about Technoblade’s duel tomorrow,” Wilbur said with a smile. “He’s fairly confident he is going to win,” He could see the grin break from Tommy’s face. 

“Why's that?” Tommy asked suspiciously. 

“What, you don’t think I can win? I am The Blood God after all,” Techno said. Both Tommy and Wilbur winced.

“Don’t let him catch you saying that, he might go so far as to smite you,” Wilbur said. 

“Yeah, if he’s LUCKY,” Tommy said. 

“What do you mean,” Techno tried to mask the confusion and concern under his traditionally monotone voice. 

“If Dream doesn’t want to toy with you or thinks you’re too cool, he’ll make you disappear, permanently. He doesn’t have to take all three lives and you won’t leave a body, you’ll just disappear. Schlatt was just with us and disappeared in front of our eyes, Dream said he was too funny,” Wilbur said. 

“How can he do that?” He asked, hardly containing his concern. “Why didn’t you tell me this morning?”

“You were a bit busy saying something about how ‘Justice is blind to the tricks of power’ and then went off to go be an edgy anime character,” Tommy said. 

“You don’t even watch anime?” Wilbur said. 

“I don’t need to, I can just absorb its power,”

“What does that even…” Techno stopped listening to think. This revolution was going to be harder than he thought if one of the two tyrants had god powers and a complex to match. He was  still catching up on history, but he would have noticed if anyone went missing during the previous revolution. 

“...and the hair is all spikey and shit-”

“Why didn’t he smite everyone during the first war?” Techno interrupted. He swore he could have heard Tommy mutter  _ rude  _ under his breath before he answered. 

“Dream lives for anarchy, worship, and bloodshed. If he smited everyone, who would be the victims of his chaos, who would devote themselves to him, who’s life’s blood would run through the streets? That’s what he does Techno, he did it to L’Manburg and he’s going to do it again and again. He plays these games where he dangles a prize above your head and snatches it away from you. He’ll make you think that he is on your side, that he cares about you and your health and then he tears you apart. Even after he’s done with you,” Tommy’s eyes were glossy and his words became unintelligible.  _ Uh.  _ He suddenly wanted to leave. Immediately. 

“Tommy, Tommy look at me,” Wilbur said. Tommy did. “Eret can’t hurt us anymore, he’s in the Dream SMP, he won’t bother us again. You have me, Tommy, that’s all you need,”  _ I’m hurt.  _ He thought mockingly. 

“And Tubbo?” Tommy asked. Wilbur sighed. 

“I hope so, but I doubt it,” Tommy got all whimpery again and Wilbur pulled him into a hug. Techno stood there awkwardly as Tommy cried into Wilbur’s shoulder on the bed. Wilbur faced him while he held Tommy. He stuck out his thumb and pinkie and held his hand to his ear.  _ Don’t need to tell me twice.  _ He left the room and started up the stairs to make a call. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to go back and change some minor details from the earlier chapters that I added without realizing to consequences. The two main things I'm going to change are:  
> 1\. I said that everyone one only has one life, I changed my mind on this, we're doing the three lives thing  
> 2\. I mentioned the pandemic, but I realized with a screeching halt that makes everyone stationary, and what's the fun in a chess game where you can't move the pieces ;)  
> I had so much fun writing about Dream and Technoblade this chapter, villains really are my favorite.   
> I hope everyone has a lovely evening and thank you to everyone who leaves kudos and comments, they really are so wonderful to read every morning!


	13. Isn’t Dream supposed to be Minecraft Jesus?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter than usual, my sincerest apologies.

“Alright I’m back, Wilbur said he would be up in a few minutes,” The AI Technoblade said. George sat up in his chair and readjusted his headphones. It was going to be something for him to get used to, hearing more than one of a person in the call. Thank god they hadn’t wanted to talk to HIS alternate, AI, whatever Minecraft character. It was, in concept, pretty cool. Most actors and writers would kill to have the chance they had to talk to their characters, but George just felt weird about it. He had DMed back and forth with Wilbur who thought that somehow Tommy was smarter than all of them and had come up with some alternate universe idea. George wasn’t sure if he was going to trust a teenager who called him blind and ‘Gogy’ on alternate universes and sentient AIs. 

Wilbur seemed to be pretty convinced that Dream had somehow contacted an alternate universe, even if that wasn’t how coding worked in the  _ slightest. God, Dream.  _ He had spent the last 24 hours switching between hatred, melancholy, and apathy. For the first time pretty much ever, the other night he had felt a  _ truly deep fea _ r of his best friend that still weighed on his stomach. They had a shit seed and a boring start. There had been none of the 1000IQ plays that were the stars of every video and little banter. All four of them had suggested to Dream that they should reset the seed, but he had been so insistent.  _ Did he really think we could make the video interesting or did he just want to torture me without having to worry about the recording?  _

“Gogy you there?” Wilbur asked. 

“Yeah sorry I zoned out,” George said blinking a couple of times. He looked back at Discord and saw Tommy grinning like a mad man. 

“I suppose you could say,”  _ Don’t you fucking dare.  _ “George was found,”

“I’m leaving,” George said. He threw down his headphones and left the room. He would be back in a few minutes, he just supposed it was as good a time as any to get a snack. He ended up with a bowl of grapes and a glass of water. George put his headphones back on and popped a grape into his mouth. 

“What did I miss?” He asked. 

“We were just having a lovely chat with Mr. Blade,” Wilbur said. 

“What about?” He took a sip of his water. 

“Furries,” Tommy said. The water he had just drank came rushing back up out of his throat. He doubled over and grabbed a napkin from his leftover dinner plate to cover his mouth. He could barely hear the laughter coming from his headphones and he struggled to not cough up his dinner. 

“We were ending the debate about whether to draw me as an anime protagonist or a pig,” The real Technoblade said. George drank some more water and made sure to get it down. 

“And?”

“Turns out both are right! Kinda,” Tubbo said.

“Long pink hair, hooves, and a mask that covers half my face,” The other Technoblade said. 

“SAD-ist was right!” Tommy bragged. “Did you know I follow her on Twitter?”

“Tommy I think everyone in this call follows her on Twitter,” Wilbur said. 

“I don’t,” The AI Technoblade said. 

“Do you even have Twitter?” George asked. 

“Maybe, what is it?”

“It’s like Reddit, but it’s full of women and likes,” Tommy said. 

“I don’t know what that is either-” The other Technoblade cut himself off. George could very faintly hear a voice that sounded suspiciously like Wilbur. “Guys Wilbur’s here,”

“No shit,” Tommy said. 

“Tommy please be respectful, you barely know this man,” The real Wilbur said. 

“What’s he going to do? I have a knife! Would you like to-”

“T.O.S. TOMMY!” Tubbo started shouting over and over again over him. 

“Right, sorry,”

“Do I even want to know?” The AI Wilbur asked. 

“It’s like the Bible,” Tommy explained. 

“Tommy, do you honestly think they have Christianity in Minecraft? Do you think they have a Minecraft Jesus?” The real Technoblade asked. He got more than a few chuckles out of everyone. Everyone but the weird AI people and Dream. What he wouldn’t give to hear Dream’s high pitched laugh. To remind himself that his best friend was still there. 

_ I don’t give a fuck about the ender dragon. He could hear the grin in Dream’s voice.  _

_ What-? What do you - Dream’s laugh seep into his brain. It wasn’t tea kettle wheeze he was used to, but a deep, thick laugh that was completely foreign to him.  _

“Isn’t Dream supposed to be Minecraft Jesus? Church Prime and all that?” He heard Tubbo say. 

_ Just me and you George.  _

“They don’t have Twitch, remember? How would they have Twitch Prime?” Wilbur must have said. 

_ What’s my name George? _

_ Clay? He heard Dream slam down on his desk.  _

_ Say my  _ **_fucking_ ** _ name George. He wanted to log off. Leave the server. Take a nap. Or a shower. Or anything else. But somehow he knew that that would only make things worse.  _

“I don’t know how they have Discord either! Or internet access!”

“You all just keep saying these words and we have no idea what they mean,”

“So do you guys have a church for Dream?” George shut off his camera and closed his eyes. 

“No, but don’t give him any ideas,” He went on deafen and left the room. 

_ Would you like to see my face, Georgie? And then he turned on his camera.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how you guys doing? :)


	14. Fighting isn’t good for my ‘audience retention'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer chapter than normal to make up for the short break. It's a Dream chapter so fair warning.

“So do you guys have a church for Dream?” Tubbo asked. 

“No, but don’t give him any ideas,” the other Wilbur said. 

**Too late,** read the message on his second monitor. He almost groaned before reeling himself back into suffocating reality. The last thing he needed was his better half taking liberties. _Not that he doesn’t already._ Dream thought. He tightened the mask on his face. It came close to coming undone half a dozen times a day due to his knot-tying skills being absolute shit. He would have to do something about that, maybe when he was less busy. He could ask if it came to that, but Dream wasn’t so sure he wanted to spend more time with him. He was balancing very carefully on a tightrope over a pit of lions. Some nights he would urge himself to just fall in and tear himself apart. Some nights he listened. 

He still felt guilty about what he did to George. Sometimes. When he was feeling well he would contemplate calling George, or texting him, or anything, but he kept to himself. Was it fear that kept him away? Guilt? Embarrassment? Other times he went back and watched the footage trying to relive the brief sense of euphoria that came when he heard the fear in George’s voice. That feeling also terrified him like no other, which made him wobble on the tightrope. Those times he didn’t just wear the mask but wore a green hoodie too. Dream would open Discord and talk while he coded. It felt good to have someone just listen to his rants. 

It felt good to talk about the deep-seated fear of being recognized, about the latest video or tweet at his expense, about how it seemed like no one had any respect for him and what he did (he was the fastest-growing Youtuber on the platform goddamn it). It felt good to have someone tell him that soon it would all be over and he could put all of his problems behind him. It didn’t feel so good to hear the truth, but he needed it. About how George probably hated him for what he did, how Dream was in the right to indulge himself in some chaos, how Tommy and Tubbo and Wilbur only hung around for his fame. He was right, of course. _He always is._

Sometimes he would be the one listening. He needed to learn as much as possible about the Minecraft world, of course. He learned about the different fighting styles, how to properly hold each weapon, how enchanting works, and so much more that he hadn’t even considered. It made him giddy and excited for what was to come. Dream learned about his other half too, about his lust for destruction and his need to be worshiped. Above all, his need for power. Dream could see where he was coming from, after all, you could do anything you wanted with absolute power. That need had torn through the SMP like a parasite and would even more since Dream handed over the old scripts and videos. Well, he had handed over more than that… 

**I hope you’re paying attention Clay,** the message from the man himself popped up on his screen. 

**Sorry.** Dream typed simply. He had no idea how he knew how Dream was feeling when they couldn’t see one another if they tried. He turned towards the Discord. George had turned off his camera and deafened. Immediately he started panicking, did he say something to remind George of that night? _I should apologize_ , Clay thought. _What have I been doing?_ He had practically tortured George, forcing everyone except them out of the call and server and hunting him for sport. Taunting him and… Clay pulled up his DMs with George on Discord and typed-

 **He isn’t going to forgive you.** The message popped up in the corner of his screen. **Why would he? You made him feel such** ** _pain_** **and** ** _fear_** **.** Clay’s breath picked up and he swore everyone in the Discord must have heard his heart pounding. **And you** ** _liked_** **it. Wouldn’t you like to do that again? If that** **felt good, can you imagine how good it would feel to be a god?**

 **Pretty good I imagine,** Dream typed. His hands shook. He was afraid of his alternate self, but he was more afraid of his actual self. 

**You’re so close, Clay. Just a little longer. Work harder and faster if it brings you peace of mind.** Dream nodded to himself, yes that's what he needed. To work harder, to finish their project faster so they could both get what they wanted. **But right now, I need you to pay attention to the task at hand, we can’t have a swine and a fool ruin everything for us, can we?**

 **No, we most certainly can’t,** Dream typed back. He grinned under the mask. What was he doing? Before this? _It doesn’t matter, do what he asks._ He thought to himself. He turned back to the Discord with Tommy’s, Tubbo’s and Wilbur’s faces and four back screens. 

“...and there’s this bald guy called BEZOS who gives us money for completely free, but only if the people watching use their Twitch Prime-” Dream groaned. He wanted to space out again. 

“Tommy stop advertising or I’m going to start plugging my channel,” Technoblade said. 

“This is a waste of my time, I have a revolution to plan,” The other Wilbur said. 

“Nope, not again,” Tubbo said, “Don’t you want to know who the traitor is?” _That’ll peak his interests,_ Dream thought. He did co-write the character after all. At least he _thinks_ he did, this alternate universe thing was getting messy. 

“There’s a traitor?” Wilbur’s voice trembled. “I knew it, it’s Tommy isn’t it,” He wasn’t even asking anymore.

“HE wanted to be president, that’s why he gave up the discs. Or! Or maybe it’s YOU Technoblade, you do seem to be messaging Dream a lot lately,”

“To be fair, it’s only so I can fight him,” A faded voice said. 

“Oh, I’m sure he hasn’t offered you some type of bribe yet. Or taken something of value to you as a hostage. Maybe you owe him something!” 

**Not yet but I plan to eventually,** his better half messaged him. _Of course._

“Then why would I be fighting him?” 

“Appearances, a staged loss, I don’t know!”

“This fighting isn’t good for my ‘audience retention’,” Tommy quipped. 

“And it’s pointless when I can literally just tell you who the traitor is,” Tubbo said. 

“Maybe it’s you Tubbo, maybe you just wanted power, maybe you’re learning a little too much from Schlatt,” Wilbur accused. 

“I’m not your Tubbo!” Tubbo shouted, “And he doesn't want power, he wants peace-”

“There can be no peace and no quarter as long as tyranny reigns supreme-” The other Technoblade was cut off by his real Technoblade. 

“Don’t get all English major on me,” He warned

“I don’t, I dunno what that is,” 

“...Makes sense,”

“Later on Techno spawns withers and Phil spawns in, but you don’t know who that is anyways-”

“Maybe they fucking deserve it Tubbo! Did you think of that? Oh wait, of course, you didn’t because you’re just a yes man who doesn’t have a single original thought!” Everyone burst out into shouting at once. 

“Don't you fucking DARE talk about my best friend that way dickhead!” Tommy screamed. 

“Calm yourself asshole, this isn’t your Tubbo and you shouldn't be talking like that anyways-” Wilbur shouted. 

“We are different people! How can you not see that!” Tubbo looked pissed and a little sad while saying it. 

“That’s taking it waaaaay too far, Tubbo is VERY smart and all that,” Techno tried. 

**Clay, I have a test for you. Take control of the situation.** Dream read the message once, then twice then one more time. 

**I’ll try.** He typed then promptly deleted. **Okay.**

“Hey guys,” he said a lot quieter than he intended. “GUYS! Wilbur! That was completely uncalled for, it’s not okay to call a child that, or anyone actually,” He tried to remember how his better half would talk, with honeyed poison dripping off of every letter. “Your Dream isn’t the only dangerous one, Soot. You leave Tubbo the fuck alone or I’ll make the war for independence look like a fucking tea party,” Dream cut himself off before he could keep going. It wasn’t even about Tubbo anymore, but about what a _g_ _od_ could do to them. _I’ll cloak the forests in red and watch as they try to escape, but there's nowhere to run because I’m everywhere._ He felt giddy and tied the mask on tighter to feel the string press on his skin. _Can you imagine their terrified screams and the looks in their eyes as they realize that the only way to kill a god is-_ A message distracted him from his craze. 

**I bet you liked that a lot, Clay. Not bad for your first time.** Dream felt a wash of pride hit him. 

**Thank you.** He typed simply. He wanted to tell him about the adrenaline running through his veins and the feeling that overwhelmed him. _Where is this coming from?_ A voice asked from the back of his head. It sounded suspiciously like George. _You’re better than that. I know Clay wouldn’t want anyone hurt._ Dream shook his head. _Dream, not Clay Dream not Clay DreamnotClay._ Dream picked up his phone. _Get out of my head._ The last thing he wanted was to start feeling guilty about that situation again. It was as his more clever half had said, “As soon as you let go of the things you care about, nothing can be used against you. That is when you are truly free,”. Dream decided right then to take those words to heart. _Fuck you, George._ He thought as he blocked then deleted George’s number from his contacts. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That one was reaaally angsty, sorry! I hope I don't come off as a weirdo for the blood lust thing. The next chapter will probably have more fluff to give everyone a break. We are getting closer to the Techno vs Dream duel and closer to Dream finishing his little project with his alter ego. I hope you all like angst >:)


	15. Don’t forget I’m being bribed and blackmailed

The night was bitter with cold flames licking at his cheeks. Techno wrapped his cloak around himself tighter and rubbed his hands together to stop them from turning purple. Wilbur was taking the weather much worse and had only bothered to wear a trench coat and a beanie. They sat together on a log in the middle of the night with Techno’s phone in the center on speaker. Technoblade in his social panic had not only left the room with Wilbur and Tommy but had gone all the way out of Pogtopia and into the forest. Wilbur joined him quickly, not bothering to question his location choice. Swords and axes Techno could handle much better than children, especially crying ones. How do you even fix a child anyway? Usually, he would just end their misery before they even got to that point, but unfortunately, he wasn’t allowed to kill Tommy.  _ You could if you wanted to,  _ he thought to himself.  _ Who’s going to stop you?  _

His denial of those thoughts implied something else. Something he did not even want to think about. Tommy was a pain in the ass and Techno had done a good job so far of not caring about anything. He had no special discs or pets and it was working for him. God forbid he get attached to someone, least of all a child. A child who was carrying FAR too much baggage for him to handle. 

Maybe seeing Techno defeat Dream would help him get over his fear. Well, fear was a light way to put it. Technoblade had to watch the spark go out of Tommy’s eyes every time the man was mentioned. It broke his heart every time.  _ No, nope, I don’t care.  _ Although he was grateful Tommy was asleep underground rather than listening to this conversation. He was having a painfully terrible time listening to Wilbur’s ramblings and Tubbo’s fortune-telling and Tommy’s rants about your free Twitch priming. Not to mention the weird version of Dream that would only talk when  spoken to or once to yell at Wilbur. He considered calling the real Dream over to just end him now before he had to hear one more word about a Twitter or a Reddit. 

Dream hadn’t made a bad threat, he would give him that. If he had the same reputation as the real Dream it might have landed, but it was just funny to Techno to see someone try to emulate Dream. The more he heard about the man the more excited he became. The better Dream’s reputation, the more impactful it would be to defeat him. 

“Tommy you can be a little nicer,” The cracked voice of Wilbur said. Techno had zoned out  _ again _ . He vaguely remembered the phone Wilbur shouting 'Daddy Dream’ and Tommy ‘popping off’. 

“I am!” The child insisted. 

“You’re threatening Wilbur with a knife,”

“I haven’t stabbed him  _ yet _ !”

“It’s not HIS fault he’s going insane!”

“I’m not going insane!” Wilbur protested next to him.

“To be fair, it’s not paranoia if everyone really IS out to get you,” Tubbo said. 

“It’s not a crime if they deserve it,” Tommy insisted. “You know who deserves it? Men. Vegans. Tik tok-ers,”

“I can’t believe I was dragged out of bed for this,” the less funny Technoblade said. 

“Just tell us who the traitor is,” Techno insisted with chatting teeth. 

“I can name more than a few,” Wilbur said, gritting his teeth. “My ex-son Fundy, Eret from ages ago, Tubbo, Tommy never even cared about L’Manburg in the first place-”

“Don’t forget I’m being bribed and blackmailed,” Techno added helpfully. _I’m seriously helping a lunatic and a child._ This was the best way to help free L’Manburg however. He hated to admit it, but he could definitely use the help. He didn’t even know  the names of half the people here. It took more than swords to win a war. 

“I mean he’s only half wrong,” Tommy said. “Tubbo can I tell him?”

“Sure,”

“Wilbur you’re actually the traitor,” Tommy said and Techno could imagine his shit-faced grin. “And you too Techno,”

“Well that's debatable,” Techno’s voice crackled from the phone. “I made it very clear my ideals from that start and they betrayed them,” 

“Wait what do you mean,” Techno asked. They wouldn’t ditch him, they  _ couldn’t  _ ditch him, both Wilbur and Tommy would be helpless. Not that he cared. 

“They establish a new government before your very eyes, Mr. Blade,” the Wilbur in his phone said slapping him in the face with words. They would really just… completely betray everything they stood for? They were fighting to take down a government, why would they…  _ oh.  _ Just more power-hungry tyrants to keep playing the game. 

“Would you really do that to me?” He asked Wilbur who had gone quiet. The buzzing of cicadas drowned out his thoughts. Wilbur looked at his hands. 

“Of course I would,” Techno snorted. 

“And here I was, thinkin’ that you wanted freedom,” He stood up and looked down onto Wilbur. 

“You  _ can _ have freedom and government you twat,” Wilbur glanced up sharply. “Someone has to keep order!” 

“Until next week when someone decides they don’t like your definition of order and takes over, or creates another country. When does it end Wilbur?!?” a quiet whispering spoke from the back of his mind.  _ Not now guys, not now.  _

“It ends once we get L’Manburg back and can be free!”

“How are you free Wilbur? Dream can still do whatever he wants to you guys without consequence, can’t he? Wasn’t that the point of your revolution?”  **Blood,** a voice said. 

“He makes a good point,” Dream said unprompted, taking everyone by surprise.  **Blood,** came another voice.  _ It’s too late to stop it.  _ “I mean, doesn’t Dream have both discs at this point too? What does L’Manburg have now that it didn’t before?”

“Independence,” Wilbur said quietly. 

“That means nothing once nations and factions are nonexistent,” Techno said. 

“Who are you guys talking to?” A voice asked from behind them. Wil and Techno turned in sync to see a bleary-eyed Tommy shivering in the cold. 

“No one,” Techno said panicky. 

“How long have you been standing there?” Wilbur asked softly. 

“How long have you two been talking to Dream behind my back?” Tommy countered. The ringing in his head started, a high pitched E that came in bursts.  _ I need to calm down, right now.  _ Technblade didn’t know a lot about caring for distressed children, but he figured being overcome by bloodlust wasn’t a good idea. 

“I need a minute,” Techno said plainly, picking up his phone. “Wilbur will call you on his phone,” He hung up before anyone could respond. 

“Now wait for just a second prick, you can’t just leave!” Tommy protested, his anger slowly overcoming the betrayal. Techno looked back at him with hungry eyes.  **Blood for the blood god.**

“Stop me then,” He spun around into the woods alone looking for prey. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *pulls comically sized lever* I'm cranking it up to the next level. It is winter break and I have two weeks to get as much and as good content out there as possible. I'm poppin off.  
> Thinking about maybe starting a Twitter page since I don't understand Tumblr and I'd like to converse with you all outside of comment sections. MAYBE.   
> Last thing, if anyone wants to recommend me their fic or one they liked I'll read it. I'm usually pretty good about leaving comments.   
> Thanks to everyone for being here, I love your feedback! :)


	16. Children don’t really understand these things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pain.pnj

“Please tell me this isn’t what it looks like,” Tommy said with begging eyes. 

“It’s not the real Dream Tommy, it’s the Discord people,” Tommy narrowed his eyes. 

“I thought we agreed that they weren’t trustworthy,”

“I agree with you!” Wilbur said, putting up his hands in defense. “But they have valuable information we need,”

“Who cares about what they have to say if it’s all lies?” Tommy asked. 

“There’s a traitor in our ranks,” Wilbur said, ignoring him. Tommy’s eyes went wide. 

“Is it Technoblade?” He asked with a whisper. _I wish._

“Tommy, I’m so sorry,” Wilbur looked up sadly. 

“But- but he was supposed to fight Dream! And he hates tyrants! Who- who could he be working for?”

“Himself. Tommy, he doesn’t just want Schlatt’s government gone, he wants _all_ government gone,” Tommy shook his head. 

“I don’t understand, why would he-,” Tommy stared off into the forestry. “I don’t believe you,” Wilbur narrowed his eyes. 

“Tommy, you know I would never lie to you, you're like a brother to me!” He insisted. That gave Tommy pause. 

“Really?” _No._ The voice of the Tommy from Technoblade’s phone rang through his head. _Wilbur, you’re actually the traitor._ What did THAT mean? He wouldn’t betray L’Manburg. He wanted freedom and peace for L’Manburg, he always had. He had tried his best to protect it, and he had failed time and time again. First from Dream, then from Eret, and then Schlatt. Now Technoblade was going to do who knows what to his country. That’s all he wanted. A special place where men could go and emancipate.

How did the song go again? He could barely remember. _Isn’t that sad, the president can’t remember his own country’s anthem._ Well, it technically wasn’t HIS country, it was Schlatt’s. He had been elected by the people, fair and square. Sure they exiled him, but none of that was illegal. Maybe Techno had a point when he said, “the law is no guide for morality”. Was he morally right? Was he the traitor to his country by trying to take it back? Tommy would say no, but children don’t really understand these things. 

“Tommy are we the bad guys?” Wilbur looked up from his phone, finger hovered over the join call button. “I mean, Schlatt hasn’t DONE anything evil. We just kind of made ourselves the leaders, then we had a vote, Schlatt won and now we’re trying to overthrow him,” Tommy bit his lip. “It _feels_ like we’re the bad guys…” They sat in silence for a moment before Wilbur let out a sad laugh. “Maybe Technoblade has a point when he says that it’s just a constant cycle of who gets power over everyone else. How are we not just causing more bloodshed?”

“Well,” Tommy looked down on him with a dazed look behind his eyes. “We started L’Manburg, and we should have won that vote,”

“Tommy, hypothetically, what happens after we overthrow Schlatt?”

“You become president again and I become your vice president,” Tommy insisted. 

“Do you think Schlatt will be okay with that?”

“Hopefully he’ll be dead,”

“After the president dies, who takes power?” Wilbur asked as if speaking to a toddler. 

“Wilbur you know I hate it when you use the pity voice, it makes it sound like you’re disappointed in me,” _I_ know _you hate that._

 _“_ Well maybe if you weren't so disappointing I wouldn’t have to speak like that!” Wilbur shouted getting on his feet. “You just want to be president after me don’t you? Do you even care what we stand for? Do you care about everything we gave up for our country?”

“Of course I do! That's why I want it back!”

“So you remember why you gave up your discs?”

“For L’Manburg!”

“No Tommy, it’s because you wanted to be president. Well, I have news for you, you’re never going to be president,” Wilbur hadn’t realized how close he’d gotten to Tommy and he didn’t remember sticking his finger into Tommy’s chest. His eyes glazed over. 

“You- you don’t mean that,” 

“Oh no, I do,”

“I-” Tommy took a few steps back. “I’m not the- we’re not the villains, it’s just the stress talking. Maybe we should turn ourselves in for the night,”

“No Tommy, we _are_ the villains, we _are_ the bad guys. Schlatt wants us to be the bad guys?” _The people from the alternate future want us to be the bad guys._ “Let’s be the bad guys,” Wilbur grinned. “It will be so much _easier_ to win-”

“Win WHAT Wilbur? You’re talking nonsense! What did Technoblade say? What did Dream say? The Wilbur I know loves his family, loves his son, and his country. He knows what is right and he fights damn hard for it. They’re tricking you, Wilbur. They’re corrupting your mind, Dream is doing some manipulative shit that he always does. Your thoughts are going all foggy and shit,”

“Oh, Tommy I’ve never thought clearer in my life. What did we found L’Manburg for again? Freedom? Emancipation? Sure we have independence, but that doesn’t _mean_ anything. Dream has your discs so he gets whatever he wants from you. Do you feel free Tommy? Because you’re not, none of us are,”

“We’re free right now! We are rebelling against a tyrant-”

“Remember what Dream said ages ago? Something like us all being puppets to our pasts? Whatever we can think about the man we can admit he’s _smart._ Any children we have are going to have to keep carrying on our battles Tommy. Your children would fight Dream’s children and their kids and on and on it never ends. A game of king of the hill Technoblade said. When does it end Tommy? Tubbo is sick of the wars, you know he is. Do you really want to drag him back into another war?” _Take the bait, Tommy._

“No. So what, we leave Schlatt to run L’Manburg?” Wilbur let out a bitter laugh. 

“Of course not, Tommy don’t you see? There _is_ no L’Manburg anymore. I don't think there ever was,” A notification from Tommy’s phone lit up the tense forest, then Tommy’s face as he read it. 

“Tubbo wants to call us, now probably isn’t the best time-” Wilbur pressed the call button for him. 

“Guys I don’t have a lot of time but it’s important,” Tubbo insisted. Whenever Tubbo had to say something it could usually be done easier through messages, but Tubbo had a hard time spelling and reading. No one pushed him on it and just let him call instead. “I just got out of a big meeting with Schlatt and Quackity and Fundy and-”

“Just tell us, big man,” Tommy pressed. 

“Dream is building something HUGE out of obsidian, well technically it’s Sam but Dream is commissioning it. It’s got tons of redstone and-”

“Wait, what is he building?” Wilbur asked sure he must have missed something. 

“Fundy thinks it's a fortress, Quackity thinks it’s a bunker of some sort but Schlatt-” Tubbo took a deep breath. “Schlatt thinks it’s a prison,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kudos and comments, they really fuel me. The next chapter comes out either tomorrow or the day after, I meant it when I said I'm kicking this shit into high gear (at least until school starts back up). Still going back and forth on the Twitter thing.


	17. I’m sure you have some really foreboding things to say, BUT

Ideally, when the voices got too loud, Technoblade would go hunting, kill a few cows, some sheep, anything to calm the voices. Ideally, he gets away fast enough before he can hurt anyone. Ideally, he doesn’t get a call from his enemy. 

**Incoming call from Dream.** _ Not now, bastard,  _ he thinks. The sharp ringing starts back up in his mind. The voices want blood from Dream, he doesn’t even know why. He’s pissed at Wilbur, not Dream. Wilbur’s betrayal stung him more than it should. Anarchy came first, this time and every time after. He prefers being alone anyway. 

Techno’s thoughts are interrupted by a rustling in the trees. He instinctively draws his sword. It was too large to be an animal, probably just a zombie.  **He’s here, he's here.** The voices told him.  _ Who’s here?  _ He barely finished the thought when something dropped down behind him. 

“It’s not very courteous of you to ignore me,” Dream said. Technoblade turned around cautiously. The first thing he noticed was the mask, a very distinct smile graced the porcelain that practically glowed in the moonlight. The second thing he noticed was that Dream was a lot taller than he expected.  _ Not good for fighting.  _

“Hate to disappoint you,” Techno said. 

“You can put the sword down, I just want to talk,” Dream insisted. He appeared to be unarmed, but Techno knew better than that. He was wearing thick and glowing netherite armor and had a clear advantage over Techno’s half enchanted diamond armor. If it came to it, Techno would probably lose. Then again, he hadn’t seen Dream fight, it could all just be exaggerated. Regardless, he sheathed his sword.

“Alright, let’s talk then,”  **Dream, Dream, Dream,** the voices screamed for no reason in particular. “This isn’t really the best time,”

“I don’t really give a shit,” Dream said bluntly. 

“Fair enough. As far as I know, we’re supposed to be fighting tomorrow. Have you come to cancel? Sabotage me?”

“Oh no, nothing of the sort. I just heard that you were having a little trouble with your quest for chaos,”  **He knows, he knows.**

“And where did you hear that?” Techno asked not bothering to deny it. He could feel Dream stare at him from behind the mask. A bitter laugh escaped the man

“I forget you’re new here, the first thing you should learn is that I know everything that goes on in my world,”

“Noted,” He said cautiously.  **Blood for the blood god, Dream, Dream.** “Listen, this really is a bad time, could we talk in like, five minutes? I’m sure you have some really foreboding things to say, but I gotta kill some sheep, just real quick,” Dream tilted his head. 

“What’s the problem Technoblade?”

“I thought you knew everything that goes on in the world?” He quipped. He could feel Dream smile under the mask. 

“I’m sure I’ll find out eventually,” He said. “I always do,” Techno groaned. 

“You’re so dramatic,” He started off into the woods. He heard Dream take fast steps towards him and took a sharp step to the left. He felt Dream fall past him and then a sharp tug on his head. He stumbled backward and with abrupt speed Dream balled up his braid and yanked his head back, forcing him to look at the mask. 

“Don’t walk away from me,” Dream warned through gritted teeth. Techno slammed on his foot with the heel of his boot and took the opportunity to free himself. He drew his sword and  pressed the advantage. Dream was quick as well and held a sword that he got from god knows where. Techno took fast steps to lock their swords in a temporary stalemate.  **Blood for the blood god, blood for the blood god.** Dream laughed sourly. 

“I just wanted to talk to the blood god,” Dream said. Techno faltered. He was caught off guard long enough for Dream to clamp his wrist and wrench the sword from his hands. 

“Where did you hear that name?” Techno asked.  **He knows he knows he knows.** “Do you hear the voices too?”

“No. Well… no. What is it that they shout at you? Blood for the blood god? Sometimes it’s just a high pitched ringing. They shout people’s names, give you heads ups,”

“Who told you that?” Techno asked with wild eyes. No one, not Tommy, not Wilbur, not anyone knew about the voices.  _ What  _ are  _ you, Dream? _

“I told you, this is  _ my _ world Technoblade, I know everything,”

“So you know why I need to be out here,”

“I can probably guess, but go ahead and tell me,”

“They don’t always talk to me, just during important moments and when I feel… basically any type of negative emotion,” Dream cocked his head at him.  _ I hate it when he does that.  _ “They call for blood,”

“Ah,” Dream nodded. “I don’t hear voices but I do understand the need for blood,”

“That makes you sound like either a doctor or a sociopath,”

“It does, doesn’t it,” Dream agreed.  **Dream, Dream, blood for the blood god.** Techno pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes in an attempt to regain focus. “Did the fighting help or make it worse?”

“Worse,” He admitted. It felt unnatural to talk to someone about the voices when they had been a burden he had been determined to carry alone. “If you would wait here while I take  care of the voices we could have a much more meaningful conversation. 

“Mmm, I don’t know,”

“Dream if I don’t do something about them I’m either going to kill you or die trying,”

“Fine,” Dream waved him off into the woods and climbed up a tree.  _ Weirdo.  _

  
  
  


Techno returned to the place he left Dream less than ten minutes later with his sword covered in blood. He was sure there was some on the rest of him but he couldn’t really bring himself to care. 

“Welcome back,” Dream said from behind him.

“Why do you always do that? For dramatic effect?”

“Do what?”

“Appear behind me like I don’t know you’re there,”

“It used to scare the daylights out of Tommy,”

“Good enough of a reason,” Techno admitted. Little shit probably deserved it. Dream doing it though probably made Tommy genuinely scared considering the way he would shut down whenever they talked about him. 

“So are the voices gone?”

“They never really leave, but now they’ll probably just say our names over and over indeed of screaming ‘blood for the blood god’,” 

“That’s… very interesting,” Dream said without sarcasm. “In this world, everyone wants two things, power, and to be loved or feared. You have power in your fighting and with your sword, Wilbur has power from his charisma, Schlatt with his words-”

“How do you have power?” Techno asked.

“The real question is whether people want to be loved or feared,” Dream said, ignoring him. “You are the very opposite of a good friend of mine. My friend says that he wants to be loved and is loved, but what he really wants is to be feared. You say you want to be feared and you are, but you really just want to be loved. It’s pitiful,” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Techno admitted. “I don’t want love or fear or whatever else, I want chaos and anarchy,” 

“Okay, let's say you do, how are you going to make it happen?”

“Well,”  _ I need to choose my words very carefully here.  _ “I help Wilbur and Tommy takedown Schlatt. We free the Manburg citizens from their dictator,”

“Do you take me for a fool?” Dream asked, his voice suddenly laced with poison. 

“I take you for a man who knows what people want and knows how to use that to get what he wants,” Technoblade said. 

“Good, you’re smart. Then you should know that every step of your plan would fail,” Dream said plainly “Wilbur and Tommy never wanted to dissolve the government, they just wanted to take back control. I’m not going to explain every bit of your plan because you know it will fail too. So why are you lying to me Technoblade?”

“You’re technically my enemy right now,”

“In that case,  _ everyone  _ is ‘technically your enemy’,” Dream said. “If you don’t have a plan, I have an offer for you, one that’s far better than anything anyone else could offer you,” Technoblade tilted his head. 

“What did you have in mind?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, SMP Dream and Techno are my favorite characters to write by far. Except maybe irl Tommy.  
> One more chapter until the duel :)  
> Happy New Year! If I'm not completely drained from the 'party' tonight I'll post the next chapter tomorrow.  
> Kudos and comments always welcomed and appreciated :))


	18. Wilbur (nukes and shit) and George not found (colorblind)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this chapter is late, my bad ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

“Sorry about that,” Wilbur’s voice crackled through the discord channel. “Tommy and I were just having a talk-”

“Technoblade really betrays us?” A voice that was unmistakably his asked. 

“If you count spawning withers in your country and trying to shoot the new president as a betrayal, yes,” The real Wilbur said. 

“I personally wouldn’t count it as a betrayal,” Technoblade said. 

“Your Technoblade is a smartass too?” the Discord Tommy asked, snickering. 

“Yeah he never shuts the fuck up,” Tommy said. “Hey guys look at me I’m Technoblade, mmm yes potatoes, anarchy HMMM,” he mimicked. 

“He’s not the only one who never shuts up,” Wilbur said. 

“Oi, bitch, I’ve still got a knife. In a video game,” Tommy said. 

“Wilbur says you guys know the future, yeah?” The other Tommy asked. “You guys know anything about a prison, or maybe a bunker?”

“Uh, Dream’s prison?” Tubbo asked. 

“Yeah with the obsidian and redstone,” 

“We don’t know anything about that, canonically,” Tommy said. 

“...cannons?” 

“Like, stuff that counts,” Tubbo tried to explain. “Like deaths and events that actually mean something,” AI Tommy barked out a laugh. 

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He asked. 

“Nevermind,” Tubbo groaned with a dismissive wave. 

“The prison isn’t supposed to be built for a while, Dream knows the most about it since he does the largest portion of the  writing,” Tommy explained. “But he had to hop out of the call for a bit,”  _ Keep an eye on him, I’m worried about him.  _ Tommy remembered George saying to him.  _ I’m turning into the SMP subreddit, overthinking everything everyone does.  _ Dream probably had to use the loo or something.  _ Why wouldn’t he deafen?  _ Asked a quiet voice in the back of his head.  _ Shut it bitch. MMM look at me go! Dream is sus HMMM?  _ He had to stop having internal conversations with himself or he was going to go insane. There were at least two crazy people in this call, the robot Wilbur (nukes and shit) and George not found (colorblind). A third would be too much for big bro Will to handle. 

“Both George and Dream left us, interesting…” Tubbo said with a smirk. 

“Dream not found? Wattpad hello?” Tommy said to laughs from Tubbo and Wilbur. 

“Guys, please,” George's voice broke through the amusement. 

“Aye, welcome back,  _ Gogy _ ,” Tommy said. 

“So did your Technoblade just leave?” Techno asked.  _ Smooth.  _

“Yeah, he does that sometimes,” The Discord Wilbur revealed. “He’s probably been talking to Schlatt! Or Dream,” he said it as if he had just uncovered some great secret. 

“Tommy this guy is crazy you should probably get out of there,” His Wilbur explained. 

“What?!? I’m not going to leave him! I’m ‘amilton and he’s Washington! We’re bros, brothers,” Tommy defended. 

“You guys had a Minecraft version of George the third tax a Minecraft version of America resulting in a war that involved Minecraft France and Minecraft George Washington and Minecraft Hamilton. Just to clarify,” Wilbur said with a raised eyebrow. 

“Yeah! Wilbur and I read Hamilton a while back,” The other Tommy explained.

“You read Hamilton?” Tubbo asked. “It’s a book for you guys? We have a musical,”

“And Hamilton was a real guy don’t forget,” Technoblade pointed out. 

“Wait a fuckin minute,” The AI Tommy said. “‘AMILTON IS REAL? Can I talk to him? Can you call him?” A vicious cackle burst through Tommy's mouth and he wheezed into the microphone. Even Technoblade had to laugh at the sheer absurdity of calling Alexander Hamilton from the grave to have a Discord chat with a 16-year-old Minecraft character. 

“They’ve all been dead for hundreds of years,” Tubbo explained in between gasps of air and laughs. Tommy banged on his desk as he struggled to breathe. His Twitch chat flew by faster than he could read. 

“And he said it so seriously too,” Tommy said, then bursting out into amusement once again. 

“Alright that’s enough of that,” Robot Wilbur said with a commanding voice. No one really respected the lunatic but quieted themselves down anyway.  _ I haven’t laughed that hard since I talked to Drista.  _ Tommy thought with a grin. 

“Can you guys tell us about the prison? It is a prison, yeah?” AI Tommy asked. 

“Yeah it’s a prison, mainly for an undisclosed individual, but it can fit most of the server in it,” Technoblade explained. 

“And all of what’s going on right now has happened to you guys before?” 

“Yeah, we’re ahead of you guys in the timeline. The best advice I can give is for Wilbur to get some therapy and put as much distance as possible in between Technoblade and Dream,”

“So they are working together?” 

“Well no, but they could if you really narrow down their motivations-”

“There goes Mr. English major,” Tommy said with a groan. “You didn’t even write in season one,”

“Well he helped a little bit,” Wilbur said. 

“Can someone translate?” The other Tommy asked. 

“Oh yeah, we should probably explain the role-playing thing,” Tubbo said. “Everything that happens is lightly scripted. Wilbur and Dream were the main writers for the first season, which is the time from the election to L’Manburg blowing up. Dream, Tommy, Techno, and Quackity are the main writers for the second season,”

“Why would you purposefully die and go to war? For fun?” Wilbur asked. 

“It’s all a video game, like Pacman or whatever,” Tommy said. 

“It’s Tetris, Tommy, not Pacman,” George said rolling his eyes. 

“Mmmm no I think I’m right,” Tommy said.  _ I’m really not.  _ “Chat? Back me up?” His chat did not back him up. 

**Nope**

**LLLLL**

**Its tetris**

**LMAO no** ****

“Tommy my chat says-”

“Shut up Tubbo,” Tommy grumbled. Tubbo grinned on his screen. 

“Yeah, I have no idea what pack man is,” The AI version of himself said. 

“Doesn’t matter. I can’t keep explaining all this stuff,” Tubbo said. 

“You better hope you don’t have to explain what Twitter is. Hey Tubbo, hey Technoblade, what do you guys think about stans?”

“I mean, whatever makes people happy, as long as no one is getting hurt,” Techno said. A beep echoed through his headphones. 

“That’s a lovely philosophy Technoblade,” His Wilbur said. 

“Tubbo explained what stans are,” Tommy insisted. His chat spammed him with pleads to not do that. 

“Pff, nice one,” Tubbo said with a short laugh. 

“I’m back!” a faint voice said from AI Wilbur’s Discord. “What did I miss,”

“We were talking about Tetris and stans,” Tommy helpfully explained. 

“We were NOT,” George said. 

“Don’t trust him, he’s colorblind,” Tommy said. 

“Your George is colorblind too?” The other Wilbur asked. “Tommy makes fun of his goggles constantly,”

“What do goggles have to do with anything?” George asked. Tommy heard something strange in his voice. Was it caution? Curiosity? Optimism?

“Everything looks like piss when he takes them off. Sapnap said he tried them on once and it looked completely normal to him,” AI Tommy explained. 

“Wait, so he can see all the colors? Like, 100%, all of the colors,” George asked. “No cap?”

“Yeah, do you not have ‘em?” Robot Tommy asked. 

“No,” George said breathlessly. The chat ran rampant. “How do they work?”

“I dunno, Gogy had them on when he spawned in,” 

“Can we please hurry this up? It’s the middle of the night and I have one of the biggest fights of my life tomorrow,” AI Technoblade said. 

“YOU can go to bed, this is very important to George,” His Wilbur said kindly.

“No, I think I’m going to head to bed, Tommy and I are watching it anyways,” Robot Wilbur said. 

“Wait, but-” George was cut off by them leaving the call. 

“Do we end the streams there?” Tommy asked. 

“Yeah I’d say so,” Wilbur said. “We’ll find a way to get you those goggles Gogy. Maybe Dream can go through the code or whatever,”

“Maybe,” Dream said, startling him. He didn’t even remember him joining the call again. 

“I’m going to end it then,” Tommy said. He disconnected and read out the last few donations.

  
  
  


“Dream can I talk to you?” George asked when everyone but the two of them had left the Discord. He got no response. “Clay, please can we-”

“Good night George,” Dream said. He immediately left the call. George grit his teeth.  _ I finally get the confidence to talk to him and he leaves? _ He brought down his fist onto his desk then ran a hand through his hair. 

**What is going on with you?**

**Are you okay?**

**Do you want to talk about it?**

He messaged Dream via text rather than on Discord. He had texted him half a dozen times once he got back from his minor panic and all had been ignored. 

**I know something is wrong. It’s not really my business but when it starts to seep into my life then it becomes my problem. I can help you Dream.**

**Please.**

**Dream please just tell me youre okay.**

**Clay im serious.**

_ Fine, I’ll figure it out myself _ . He thought. He felt mildly guilty trying to butt into Dream’s personal life, but if he wouldn’t at least  _ talk  _ to him there must have been something really, really bad happening. If they didn’t talk soon, he was going to do something mildly stupid. Mildly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE NEXT CHAPTER IS THE DREAM VS TECHNO FIGHT. I'm super excited for this one and I might split it in two. Maaaybe.   
> Also, SAPNAP'S IN FLORIDA WHAT?????????? HUH???????????????


	19. SLEEP FOR THE SLEEP GOD

“Back so soon?” Tommy turned away from Wilbur and asked with a glare. 

_ Later,  _ Techno mouthed back. What were they going to do? He hadn’t done anything  _ yet  _ and it’s not like they could forcefully move him anyway. They both turned back to the conversation. 

“Don’t trust him he’s colorblind,”

  
  


“Alright bitch let's hear it,” Tommy said as they walked down the narrow staircase into Pogtopia. 

“Well, I took a long thoughtful walk and realized you guys are right. We can have both government and freedom at the same time,” The words felt unconvincing even to him. 

“Did the walk include that?” Tommy asked jerking his thumb at Techno’s bloodied clothes. 

“Yes it did, it helps me calm down,”

“Riiiigght,” Tommy stumbled down the stairs. 

“Are you still going to the duel tomorrow?” Wilbur asked. 

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” He said as they reached the bottom of the staircase. “Even if you don’t believe I’m on your side, Dream is still a tyrant. It’s like your song, ‘the brutal tyranny of our rulers’, I have a problem with the tyranny part, not the rulers part,”  **Rainbow chat, rainbow chat, Technoblade, Wilbur, Technoblade, TECHNOSUPPORT.** _ Seriously guys, right before bed? _

“Of course Technoblade, we couldn’t really win without your help anyway,” Wilbur agreed with a smile. Tommy whipped his head around to look at Wilbur. 

“What the fuck? Wilbur weren’t you  _ just  _ saying-”

“We can talk about this later Tommy,” He insisted with a polite look. The teen grumbled before stalking off to his bed. “For what it’s worth, I believe you Technoblade,”

“Thanks, Wilbur. I would love to stay up and chat about everything, but there is a super important fight tomorrow-”

“Don’t worry, I get it, you can go to bed. I’ll see you in the morning,” Wilbur promised.  _ I’ll hold you to that.  _

“Goodnight Wilbur,” He stalked off down the ravine and laid in his bed. It was still quite empty in the chasm despite Wilbur decorating it. Only a few lanterns swung around on chains above slabs of stone and cobble. Techno was pretty sure he hadn’t slept since he’d arrived in Pogtopia which was probably a terrible idea, but not much he could do about it now. Despite that, he tossed and turned in his bed waiting for sleep to overtake him. After about an hour of listening to the voices rant about blood and rainbows and staring at the ceiling, the wall, his sheets, basically anything around him, he heard Wilbur and Tommy talking down the hall. Techno only heard bits and pieces, but words like traitor, Technoblade, trust, and anarchy were thrown around enough times to give him an idea of what they were talking about. 

**They don’t trust you, LMAO THEY GOT YOUR ASS, rainbow chat, rainbow chat, L, SLEEP FOR THE SLEEP GOD.**

“Thank you chat, very helpful,” he muttered and he turned around under the blankets for the hundredth time that night.  _ Now shut up or I’m going to sleep through the fight tomorrow.  _ That shut them up fast enough. 

The arena was larger than he’d expected. He also wasn’t expecting an audience. There were at least 20 people sitting in the stands, he only recognized a few. Tubbo, who had visited them when he had first joined Pogtopia, Schlatt, who had very distinguishable horns, Fundy, the strange-looking fox man, and  Quackity who Dream had made sure he would recognize. The cabinet members all sat together in the stands with the citizens being off to the right. Dream had made it clear to everyone that there was to be no armor or weapons in the arena and assured everyone safe passage. Wilbur and Tommy reluctantly sat in the stands on the opposite side from Manburg. Dream  _ wanted  _ everyone to see him get beat up but chat would definitely mock him for the rest of his days if that happened. 

When he had first rode up on horseback he hadn’t expected a greeting, much less an  _ actual demon _ . 

“Hi!” The demon had said with a surprisingly welcoming voice.  _ Chat what am I looking at here?  _

**Bad, BBH, Bad, say fuck, Badboyhalo, SWEAR AT HIM.**

“Erm, hello. I’m Technoblade,” He swung off his horse and offered his hand. 

“Oh, I know! Dream sent me to welcome you and give you a rundown of the arena and the rules,” The demon grinned and took his horse by the reins. “We have a place for horses if you’ll follow me,”

“Right, and you are…?”

“Oh my goodness! I completely forgot about introductions, my name is Bad, I live in the Badlands-”

“Clever,” He said dryly. 

“Thank you! I might look a little strange but I promise I’m friendly,”

“I don’t judge,” Techno insisted. He, after all, had pink hair and a pig mask. “Anything else I should know about you?”

“I don’t like swearing,” Bad said seriously. 

“Alright whatever,”  **Say fuck, swear, FUCK, bad, BAD, rainbowchat.** _ Chat shut up, please.  _

Bad led him to a stable where a couple of other horses were. He showed him around the arena which was built by some people in the Badlands. He then took him around behind the arena and  flicked a lever. Pistons and redstone clicked together revealing a rather large room filled with anything he would need for the battle. Diamond armor and weapons lined the walls and fille chests. 

“Netherite is obviously too expensive so we got the next best thing,” Bad explained, showing him around. “You get to pick one long-ranged weapon, one short-ranged weapon, and a bonus,” 

“Bonus?”

“Anything of your choice really, Dream has an axe, a crossbow, and a shield,”  _ I’m aware.  _ “I can get you pretty much anything you ask for, except for a few key things. No potions or anything that could give you an effect, no enchanted items, no netherite, and nothing explosive,” Techno pondered his options for a moment. 

“Can I get a fishing rod?” Bad’s bright white eyes blinked a few times. 

“Are you sure? I can get you another crossbow, a trident, an ender pearl-”

“I’m sure,” He confirmed with a grin. Bad sighed. 

“Alright Mr. Blade, if you insist,” He turned to the other wall. “We have regeneration and health potions for the end of each round and you have access to as many bandages as you need. Both of you will get only five arrows each round,”

“Can we pick up arrows on the ground?” Techno asked. 

“I don’t see why not,” Bad shrugged. “I don’t think there’s anything else I’m forgetting, do you need anything from me?”

“A fishing rod,” 

“Oh! Right, I’ll get on that!” Bad hurried out of the room and back out into the woods. Techno sighed and took off his cloak to hang on the wall. He turned back to the armor on the walls and worked with quick fingers to put it on. He waited on putting on the helmet, wanting to re-do his braid beforehand. Technoblade  slid off his mask and took out the hair tie. He was busy un-braiding the swaths of pink hair when he heard a gasp. 

“Oh my goodness I am so sorry,” Bad said, covering his eyes with his hands. 

“...could you not find the fishing rod?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“No I got it, I should have knocked. I'm sorry,” Bad handed him the fishing rod, still covering his eyes. 

“You can stop saying sorry you didn’t do anything,” He took the rod and inspected it. The string was strong enough to last him the day. 

“Is your mask still off?” Bad asked. 

“Ohhh, I see. I don’t really care if you see my face, I just like the mask. I mean, I hate the government but I wear a crown. It’s just for looks,” Bad peaked out through his fingers hesitantly. Techno offered him a toothy smile. Bad’s hand fell from his face and offered a grin in return. 

“Sorry, I know it bothers some people. Sam doesn’t like me seeing him without it on and Dream-” Bad’s face fell as he stopped himself. 

“...Dream what?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Bad’s grin returned. “Do you think you’re going to win?” Techno barked out a laugh. 

“I know I am,” He said.  **Blood for the blood god. “** How soon do you think we’ll be starting?” Bad’s eyes widened. 

“Oh my goodness I forgot,” He rushed over to a very empty wall with a lever on it. “You pull this lever when you’re ready and Dream will pull his when he’s ready. The doors only open when both are down,”

“How did you guys do this?” Techno asked finishing off his braid.

“This was all Sam, he’s a redstone genius,” He could have sworn he heard a hint of pride in the man’s voice. Techno put on his mask, then the helmet. 

“Are you going to wait in here while I fight?”

“Nope, I’ll be watching from the stands, but give me a wave if you need anything,” Techno walked over to the weapons and grabbed a sword and sheath. “After each round, you’ll walk back into here and pull the lever, both levers will have to be up to close the door. You can switch into new sets of armor and refill your quiver, but if the lever isn’t up in five minutes it will automatically open the door whether you’re ready or not,”

“How many rounds are there?” Techno questioned as he slid a loaded quiver across his back. 

“Eleven,” Techno whipped his head around so fast his braid smacked Bad in the leg.

“ELEVEN? That’s going to take hours!” Bad shrugged. 

“Dream has good stamina, what can I say?” Techno groaned. 

“Can I drop out? I’m going to get bored halfway through and suddenly find the threads on my shirt more interesting than the fight,” Bad chuckled. 

“You’ll be fine, if you don’t have any more questions I’ll make my way to the stands,” Techno sighed. 

“Go ahead Bad, enjoy the show,” 

"Good luck!" He beamed and headed out the door. _If he’s not careful I’ll start liking him._

_Chat, get me hyped._ He didn’t need to ask twice, his head filled with calls for blood. _Let’s hope I know what I’m doing._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of this was inspired by SAD-ist's animatic, I would say go watch it, but let's be honest we all have.   
> The ACTUAL fight is the next chapter, I PROMISE.   
> Thank you to all the lovely people reading this, it means a lot :))


	20. I have had about three hours of sleep

Light crept into the room from the bottom up as the door opened. Techno took a deep breath before stepping out into the arena.

“TECHNOBLADE!” Tommy screamed at him from his right. Techno whipped around to see the teen waving aggressively at him from the stands. “SHOW THE GREEN BASTARD WHO’S BOSS!” Tommy had his phone sideways and pointed at him.  _ Is he seriously filming this?  _ Techno gave him a small wave back then turned to his opponent. Dream had (as expected) an axe, a crossbow, and a shield. He took a quick glance at his surroundings, noting where everyone was sitting before taking his place in the middle. 

“Hey,” He said awkwardly to Dream. 

“Hi,”

“Do we just-” Dream’s axe came down towards his face giving him just enough time to dodge. The head of the axe hit the ground and Techno swung his sword at the man’s torso. Dream just kept stepping backward as Techno swung and rushed forward. His sword embedded itself in Dream’s shield and he lifted up his axe. Dream’s mask moved up far enough for Techno to see his grin as he brought the axe down onto his hand. He was forced to abandon his sword and step back. Techno narrowed his eyes and kicked the sword up and free from the shield. As it flew into the air he kicked Dream down to the ground. Techno caught his sword and swung wildly at Dream on the ground. The man just pushed himself up off the ground with sudden agility. 

**Blood for the blood god** , the voices urged him on. He could hear the crowd cheering and gasping while they fought.  _ Rod time.  _ Techno unhooked the rod from his back and cast it out towards Dream catching the man off guard. He could practically see the ' _ what the fuck'  _ look under his mask as Techno entagled  him in the string. Dream’s shield clattered to the ground. Techno grinned and rushed forward with his sword. Dream was quick though and cut through the string with the axe. Techno kicked up Dream’s discarded shield from the ground and into his hands holding it up to block Dream’s axe. 

  
  
  


“This was a terrible idea,” Techno insisted as Bad forced a health potion down his throat.   
“Why do you think no one else had challenged him? He’s the best of the best, except maybe you,” Bad offered. Techno wiped the pink liquid from the side of his mouth. 

“Not that part, I’m talking about the fact that there have been nine rounds so far and I have had about three hours of sleep since I got here,”  _ Why couldn’t we have done the plan an hour ago?  _ Whatever. He was up by a point and Dream would give him the signal soon. 

“Dream can be dramatic sometimes. It’s not a bad thing,” Bad insisted. 

“Oh, I know. When I first met him he dropped down behind me from a tree and started talking about the human condition or whatever,” Bad chuckled. 

“Sounds like him. He’s intense, dramatic, clever, and quick,”  _ Noted.  _ **Blood for the blood god,** the voices urged impatiently. 

“Am I healed enough to head back out?” Bad sighed. 

“I would prefer you rest a bit longer but if you insist-”

“Thanks, Bad,” Techno pulled himself to his feet and put his half-broken sword in its sheath. 

“Wait-,” Bad grabbed his arm. Techno instinctively reached for his sword but stopped himself. “Be careful,”

“I’m not going to lose,” Techno promised. 

“I know, that’s what I’m worried about,” Bad let go of Techno’s arm. “Good luck,” Techno gave him a wary look before pulling down the lever. Dream’s must have already been pulled because the door started to open. **What does that mean, huh, BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, I don't like this, swear coward, rainbow chat, what's he talking about?** Sometimes he wished he could rip all of the voices out of his head and strangle them one by one. Techno’s eyes adjusted to the light and he glanced at the scoreboard, 5 to 4, in his favor. If he won the next one, he won overall. 

Dream stepped out from his own room with new arrows in his quiver and a bandage wrapped tightly around his wrist from the wound Techno inflicted last round. The voices got excited just seeing it.  _ Just a little longer guys.  _ Dream took a few slow steps toward him, then faster and faster until somehow they were both running at one another. Techno jumped towards Dream who quickly dropped his axe and reached for his preloaded crossbow.  _ Shit.  _ Dream shot a bolt at him that Techno narrowly dodged. He swung his sword forcing Dream to back up and pick up his axe. Techno took his bow off of his shoulders and took a quick shot at Dream. While the arrow was flying techno pressed the advantage. It embedded itself harmlessly into Dream’s shield but Techno was right in Dream’s face when he peeked out from behind the shield. 

_ Boo.  _ Dream managed to get his axe up fast enough, not to block the sword, but enough to distract him for a moment. Techno’s swing was short and cut Dream across the face.  _ That’ll leave a mark.  _ Techno felt a sudden weightless on his head a moment before he heard his crown clatter to the ground. He forgot about the fight for a split second as he turned to look at the floor. His braid laid there too and he felt a sudden sense of nostalgia. He didn’t remember much of his childhood, but he did remember deciding that he would only ever cut his hair when he’d lost in battle.  _ But I haven’t lost a battle yet- _

There was a quiet whimper behind him and Techno whipped around. There was a phantom feeling of his braid following his movement but he was paying more attention to Dream, kneeling on the ground clawing at his face. He was shaking and made quiet sounds of anguish.  _ What just happened?  _ **The mask, his mask, his face,** the voices for once helpfully provided. Technoblade looked down at the ground to see Dream’s smile mask cut straight down the middle on the ground.  _ The plan isn’t going to work if he’s curled up in a ball on the floor,  _ Techno reasoned. He still had his sword out, just in case, and reached a hand out to Dream’s shoulder. 

Dream whipped his head towards Techno and his hands fell from his face. There was… nothing. Where he had expected a face was instead just a void of black. Well, nothing plus a pair of green eyes dripping with fury. The man lunged at him and Techno fell to the ground. Dream’s fist came down hard onto his cheek and he could smell the tangy scent of blood.  **BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD,** the voices urged.  _ Just this once,  _ Techno thought as Dream’s fists came down onto him relentlessly. 

“Do you have any idea how much that mask means to me you fucking idiot?” Dream asked, still pounding down into his face. He almost wanted Dream to put the mask back on so he wouldn't have to look at the rage and hurt in Dream’s eyes. Techno gritted his teeth. Blood dripped down from Dream’s face. He felt around on the ground and grabbed one of the broken halves of Dream’s mask. The porcelain was sharp and he stabbed it into Dream’s arm. Lightly enough not to be permanent damage, but hard enough to distract him so Techno could get up. He pushed the unmasked man to the side and looked around wildly for his sword. There was a sharp kick to his back and his face met the ground once more. Before he could do anything there was a sharp pain in his neck.  _ Damn it.  _ Techno rolled over to see Dream 

standing above him, shield covering his face and an axe pointed at his neck. 

“Good round,” Techno said breathlessly. 

“Shut the hell up,” Dream said and walked back towards his room. Techno waved up at Bad to come help him out. Bad rushed down the stairs and into the arena. 

“You muffinhead, why would you do that?” Bad asked, helping him to his feet. Techno tried to ignore the people in the stands, tried to ignore the unsatisfied chat, tried to ignore the blood dripping down his nose and mouth. 

“Just get me back to the prep room,” Techno pleaded. Bad practically carried him back which was no easy feat. Bad dropped him down onto one of the chairs and rushed to get bandages and potions. Once Bad had finished fixing him up and berating him for being so careless and stupid, Techno pulled him close. 

“Bad, I need you to go to the stables, take my horse and  _ leave, _ ” Techno gripped Bad’s arm hard. 

“Technoblade, I don’t-”

“There’s no time for questions or anything. Just  _ get as far from this place as possible, _ ” He insisted. “I know you probably don’t trust me, but  _ please.  _ Just run,”

“If I stay, am I going to die?” Bad asked quietly. 

“Worse. So much worse,” Techno loosened his grip. 

“Are you and Dream-”

“Bad, you know him better than me. He has something planned and nothing in this world is going to be able to save you if you stay here. I treat others the way they treat me, those that have treated me with kindness, I will repay that kindness tenfold. But those that wrong me, that  _ use _ me-” He cut himself off. “I like you Bad, I would hate to see you die. Now go before I change my mind,” Techno shoved Bad towards the door. Bad gave him one last look. Was it grateful? Fearful? Pity? He wasn’t sure, but Bad  ran out the door leaving Techno praying that they would never see each other again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be a big one and is the beginning of the end (did someone say blood for the blood god?). I've been building up to the ending of this fight and the things that come after. After the next chapter, we will be paying a visit to some IRL people.


	21. Alright, that’s enough social interaction for a week

Tommy grinned as wide as he could manage when Technoblade walked back out into the arena. Sure, they were enemies and Techno had utterly betrayed them, but it was almost worth it to see Dream get fucked up by some bitch with pink hair. Wilbur always taught him to, ‘never insult someone’s appearance, if you call a bad person fat, a good person who is also overweight will be hurt too,’. He had taken that lesson to heart and exclusively insulted Dream for his appearance. Most included some combination of ‘green’ and ‘bitch’. His favorite insult was when Wilbur called Dream ‘two-faced’. 

He started up a new video and pointed it at Techno.  _ Give me something good.  _ Dream waltzed out of his prep room like he  _ hadn’t  _ just had his mask knocked off in front of twenty people.  _ Speaking of his mask, how many does he even  _ have _?  _ Dream had what he could only assume was a brand new one, identical to the previous.

“Tommy,” Wilbur put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Be ready to run at a moment's notice, you know Dream as well as I do. You know if he loses he won’t…” He left the rest unsaid. Tommy simultaneously wanted to pull Wilbur into a hug and to hear him tell him it would all be okay, and to shove the hand off his shoulder and punch him for what he said.  _ You’re never going to be president Tommy _ . 

Instead of doing either, he just nodded and turned back to the fight. He held his phone higher and tensed in anticipation. Either Dream would get what he deserves (and probably go nuclear) or they would lose the only person who might be able to defeat Dream in battle to smiting or perma-death. It really didn’t matter in the long run who won, Dream always won in the end.  _ He would just love to hear that _ , Tommy thought miserably. 

“Why did the best fighter have to be the best idiot?” Tommy muttered. 

“Behind you of course,” Wilbur said with a grin. Normally he would have made some sort of quip at Wil’s expense, but it didn’t really seem important anymore.  _ I should talk to Tubbo after this.  _

Dream rushed forward and sword clashed with axe, the sound of diamond on diamond rang throughout the arena as a high pitched hum. Dream was faster on his feet, but Techno was faster with a sword. Dream’s shield met Techno’s sword and wood splintered onto the ground. Tommy looked up from the fight for just a second and caught Tubbo’s eye from the opposite end of the arena. Tubbo gave him a small wave and a grin before looking back to the fight.  _ How did we get here?  _ He wondered. 

Techno’s betrayal, Wilbur’s rants, Dream’s manipulative bull shit.  _ It’s always been me and you,  _ he thought.  _ Us against the world.  _ There were more clashes on the ground below him. Tommy pointed his camera to the stands for a few seconds, panning Manburg’s stands to not look suspicious.  _ Just in case,  _ he thought.  _ In case the green bitch goes feral.  _ There was a twang of a bow and the sound of flint meeting oak. Tommy turned back to the fight. No one was winning, no one was making ground.

_ Give us a show at least,  _ he thought. Dream managed to get behind Techno and swung his sword angrily at his head. Techno took advantage of the awkward positioning and kicked into the back of Dream’s knee. The shield came up just in time and they were both back at square one. Tommy squinted. He wasn’t the best at combat, but he knew enough to know something was up.  _ It’s like Dream is stalling. And Techno. At the same time.  _ Tommy turned violently away from the fight. 

“We need to go, right now,” he said to Wilbur. 

* * *

Techno took a quick glance at Tommy in the stands.  _ He knows.  _ Dream followed his glance. 

“It’s now or never,” Techno whispered. Their weapons broke apart from their stalemate. The mask lifted up far enough to reveal Dream’s manic grin. 

“Blood for the blood god,”

* * *

“What are you talking about Tommy? There’s only one more-” Wilbur turned from him and back to the fighting pit. Dream and Technoblade broke apart and ran to opposite ends of the arena. 

“Wilbur,” Tommy pleaded. “For once in your life, listen to me,” Wilbur opened his mouth to say something, but Tommy gripped his arm and took off. “Tubbo!” Everyone but Techno and Dream turned to look at him. “RUN!” 

And then the stands exploded. 

Not with TNT, (Tommy was  _ far  _ too familiar with that), but with red and blue and white bursts of color. He glanced down at the arena to see Technoblade loading an enchanted crossbow with a firework rocket. People cried out from the stands and Techno shot another bolt. 

“KILL EVERYBODY!” He shouted. Tommy’s phone buzzed four times. He didn’t want to read it. He knew what it said. 

“Tubbo’s respawn is set in Pogtopia,” Wilbur said. Tommy whipped around. 

“Let’s go get him then!” Tommy’s phone buzzed again and again. Tommy ran down the stairs and out to the stables. He grabbed a random horse and kicked its side. 

“Tommy wait!” Wilbur cried out but his voice was getting fainter as the horse ran towards Pogtopia.  _ Me and him against the world.  _ And now they both had only one life left. 

All Tommy could think about on the ride home was how Tubbo was waiting there for him after both of his deaths. When Dream had stabbed him in the final control room, Tubbo was waiting by his bedside, even though he himself had only woken up minutes before. After the bow duel on the prime path, Tubbo was there to comfort him. He  _ had  _ to be there for Tubbo, just once. He couldn’t save him in the arena, he couldn’t save him in the final control room. Tommy wasn’t going to let Tubbo die a third time. He kicked the horse harder. 

“Tubbo?” He called out into the cold ravine. 

“Tommy?” Tubbo called back. He was already awake when Tommy got to his bedside. Shaking and alone. All he could do was hold him and try not to cry. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered into Tubbo’s ear. 

“Why? What did you-”

“I should have been here,”

“You came as fast as you could-” Tommy ripped himself from the hug. 

“Not fast enough, you’re my Tubbo-”

“I’m your Tubbo?” He shot back with a grin. 

“Ah fuck, I meant to say ‘my best friend’ and ‘Tubbo’ and somehow-”

“It’s okay Tommy,” Tubbo assured him. “You can be my Tommy,” They both smiled despite themselves. 

“That's dumb as fuck,” Tommy said with a laugh and wiped a tear from his eye. Tubbo pulled him back into the hug. 

“Tommy!” A familiar voice called out from above. “Tubbo!” They look up to see Wilbur rushing down the staircase. “I was so worried,” he said and wrapped them both into a hug that they both strongly protested against.

“Wilbur,” Tubbo said in a serious tone that broke apart the hug. “What happened after I died,” Tommy’s heart cracked with Tubbo’s voice crack. 

“I honestly have no idea, Dream and Techno disappeared,” Wilbur said. Tommy reluctantly pulled out his phone and read through his notifications. 

**Tubbo_ went out with a bang due to a firework shot by Technoblade**

**JSchlatt went out with a bang due to a firework shot by Technoblade**

**Quackity went out with a bang due to a firework shot by Technoblade**

**ItsFundy went out with a bang due to a firework shot by Technoblade**

**Nihachu went out with a bang due to a firework shot by Technoblade**

“Oh my god,” He said aloud and kept scrolling. Practically everyone but him and Wilbur lost a life. A new notification popped up at the top of his screen. 

**JSchlatt was slain by Dream using** **_Nightmare_ **

And then more.

**Quackity was shot by Dream using** **_Nightmare_ **

**ItsFundy went out with a bang due to a firework shot by Technoblade**

“Wilbur, are you reading this?” Tommy asked. 

“No, why,” Tommy turned to him with glossy eyes. 

“I think that was Fundy’s last life,” Wilbur and Tubbo took a moment to register the words. Tubbo put his face in his hands while Wilbur whipped out his phone. 

“No, no,” he whispered. “No,”

“I’m so, so sorry,” It was all he could say. His phone buzzed again. 

**JSchlatt** **was slain by Dream**

“It’s a fucking massacre,” Tommy said quietly. 

“No, no, no,” Wilbur whispered. He stood up and ran to the stairs. 

“Wil!” Tommy shouted and ran after him. Tubbo didn’t move. “Wilbur fucking Soot where are you going!?!” Wilbur was already at the top of the stairs. And so was Technoblade. 

“Hello-”

“You BASTARD!” Tommy lunged at the man. Instead of falling to the ground, stood completely still while Tommy felt like needles were being dug into his skin from all angles. Someone screamed. 

“Fundy?” Wilbur asked quietly while Tommy writhed on the ground screaming. 

“Where the fuck did you get Thorns three?!? And netherite!?!” Tommy shouted. 

“Dream,” Techno answered calmly. 

“Are you here to finish the job?” Wilbur asked. “First the son now the father? One to the final control room, two to Technoblade, how poetic,” 

“If you’re here for Tubbo, you’re going to have to go through me,” Tommy pulled himself from the ground. He held up shaking fists. “Fight me bitch,” he challenged with grit teeth. 

“I’m here to tell you to run,” Techno said. “Dream has this insane plan to ‘win the game’, and it ends with all of you in prison or dead,”

“How do you plan to have chaos if everyone is dead?” Tommy asked, holding back a scream. The Thorns was slowly wearing off. 

“Oh trust me, there will be  _ plenty of chaos _ for me,” Techno grinned. “But you guys don’t have to be a part of it. Take this,” he pushed a compass into Tommy’s hand. “Go north, don’t come within a thousand blocks of civilization,”

“Did he run?” Wilbur asked quietly. “Is that why you shot him?” Techno paused before dying. 

“Yeah, he was runnin’,” Wilbur dropped to his knees. 

“Uh, I’m not very good at this ‘talking to other people thing’, just get as far from here as you can,” Techno insisted. 

“Technoblade?” Tubbo whispered from behind him. 

“Tubbo, we need to get the  _ fuck  _ out of here,” Tommy grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the door. “Wilbur! Let’s go!” Wil didn’t move. 

“I’ll catch up,” Wilbur promised quietly. 

_“_ No you won’t,” Tommy said. _But maybe I don’t care._

“We can’t leave him!” Tubbo shouted. 

Wilbur let out a laugh, full of sorrow and insanity. “Maybe Eret was right. It was never meant to be,”  _ You just crossed a line,  _ he thought.  _ There's no going back.  _ Tommy didn’t even look at his eyes. He didn’t want to see whatever was left of the man he considered a brother. Tubbo saddled on Wilbur’s horse and Tommy jumped on his own. 

“I hope you find what you’re looking for,” Tubbo said quietly. 

“Who?” Tommy asked. 

“Both of them,” Tubbo turned and rode North. 

“You were my brother Wilbur, I loved you,” Tommy said to him. 

“I don't love you,” Wilbur admitted. “Maybe I did at one point, but not anymore,” And that broke Tommy’s heart more than he could say. 

“Alright, that’s enough social interaction for a week,” Techno said. “Run, quickly, or Dream will be here,” That was all he needed to hear. Tommy rode North. 

Soon after, he felt his phone vibrate. 

* * *

“We could have been brothers you know,” Techno said to him after Tubbo and Tommy had left. “But you used me, I was just ‘The Blade’ to you, never Techno,” Wil just stared at the ground.

“You always had a soft spot for Tommy, even if you never realized it,” Wilbur said, ignoring him.  _ Fundy was so young.  _ “What did Dream say to you? How did he manipulate you?”

“He didn’t manipulate me, he just gave me what I wanted,” Techno admitted. “There’s only so much chaos to be had before you run out,”  _ What would Sally say? _

“Did he give you his speech about power?” Wilbur asked. 

“The one about how true power only comes from your ability to take away life?”

“What? No, the other one,”  _ Why is there more than one,  _ he wondered bitterly. 

“Oh, about how everyone wants to be loved and feared and power?”

“Yeah, it’s basically like your fate,” Wilbur explained. “I told him I only wanted to love my friends and for them to love me back, he told me I wanted power and fear,” He laughed. “I guess he was right, I was going to destroy L’Manburg,” His laugh turned into a sob. 

“Why?” Techno asked with genuine curiosity. 

“You and Dream, you were both right. There is no L’Manburg, it never existed. If it ever did, whatever it stood for is long gone. I was going to show everyone that. I was going to ask Dream for TNT,” Wilbur admitted. “Dream always wins, if you want to keep winning you’ll stick with him,”

“I’m sorry,” Techno offered. “For killing your son,”

“Would you do it again?” His voice trembled. Wil held his breath. 

“Yes,” He scowled and met Techno’s eyes.

“Then you aren’t sorry. Get it over with,” Wil leaned his head over and faced the ground. “At least make it clean,”

“Any last words?” Techno asked him.

“None for you,” The sword fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD  
> That was a LOT, I hope everyone liked it, next chapter we switch to the real world :)


	22. I could stab you if I had a knife and you were unarmed

**Incoming call from Gogy** his phone read. Tommy frowned and stood up from the lunch table. 

“I’ll be right back,” he insisted to his friends and ran off to find somewhere quiet. 

“This better be important. Bitch,” He added on for good measure. 

“It is, shut up,” Wilbur said.  _ When did he get here?  _ “It's about Dream,”  _ Oh.  _

“Okay, what about him,” 

“You know how I said he was acting weird?” George said. Tommy turned away from a passing couple of students. 

“Yeah, I remember,”

“None of us have talked to him in almost a week, don’t you think that’s a little strange? A bit out of character?”

“I don’t know, I guess. Listen, I’m in school right now-”

“Tommy, Wilbur and I are going to Florida,” Tommy’ was silent for a moment. Florida? The US? Just because Dream didn’t answer a few phone calls?

“Doesn’t that seem a bit dramatic?” Tommy asked. “I mean, have you tried calling anyone else? His mum, his family?”

“Tommy do you have the phone numbers of Dream’s family?” Tommy barked out a laugh. 

“What? No of course not, why would I? We just play Minecraft together,” George sighed from the other end of the call. 

“So why would I?”

“Aren’t you two like, fake dating or some shit?” He could practically see George’s disappointed face. 

“Tommy, you need to be serious for once,” Wilbur insisted. 

“Okay go to Florida! I don’t give a shit! What are you even going to  _ do  _ there? ‘Hey Dream, I called you like twice and you didn’t answer so I spent a thousand dollars on a plane ticket to  check on you’, do you know how insane you sound? Why is Wilbur even going?”

“I like to travel. Plus, I’m like 6’5,” Wilbur explained. 

“You like to fuckin’ travel? So you're spending all that because you’re tall and like to travel?  _ What kind of drugs are you on!?! _ ” Tommy shouted a little too loud. A passing teacher gave him a warning look before continuing. 

“Dream has been really closed off lately, plus he and George had a fight,”

“ _ You’re going to fight him?!?”  _ Tommy hissed into the phone. “I am supposed to be in class in fifteen minutes and you’re telling me you’re going to fight a Florida man we play Minecraft with because he missed two calls _?”  _

“Tommy-”

“It’s fine Wil,” George said. “I’ll tell him. The ‘fight’ I had with Dream wasn’t as much of a fight as it was him being an arse. He stopped playing in the middle of a manhunt, kicked everyone but us out of the server and the call, then tried hunting me down. When he caught me in some cobwebs, he turned on his camera,” Tommy blinked.  _ Okay, maybe there is something weird happening.  _

“Go on,” He gulped. 

“He was wearing the mask, Tommy, the one his character wears. He was wearing it the whole time. I called him Clay and told him to stop messing around, but he got violent and started breaking things. He told me to call him Dream and got a  _ goddamn axe  _ from  _ his closet  _ and started going crazy. Dream and I argued about it later and he just kept denying it happened. Tommy, he’s our friend, but he  _ clearly  _ needs some professional help,”

“Why not get Sapnap to help? Or someone else closer to him?” He suggested.

“I don’t want to drag Sapnap into all of this, besides, Wilbur actually came to me. He thought that Dream was acting weird and so I told him about that night. We talked about it and agreed that this was the best thing to do,”

“He’s going to fuckin stab you!” Tommy protested as quietly as he could while still getting his point across. 

“Wilbur is bigger than him, plus we can always call the cops if things get too bad. I seriously doubt he’s going to stab me,” George said as if he was thinking  _ logically.  _

“Just tell the cops now! Didn’t he threaten you!?! Just have them check up on him!”

“What do I say Tommy? ‘Hello, my friend was mean to me in Minecraft and has a weapon in real life, please go arrest him. Also, I don’t know his last name or anything else like that’. Does that sound like a reasonable thing to say?”

“Just have them make sure he’s alive!”

“Then what? We already know he’s alive because he’s online in Discord half the day coding,” Tommy sighed. This whole thing was a huge mess that he didn’t understand. “We’re just going to talk to him, try and get him to a therapist or something. Maybe we can talk to his family too and get them to talk to him,”

“Do you even know where he lives?” Tommy asked, running a hand through his hair. 

“Yeah, he sent me his address a while ago when I said I didn’t believe he lived on his own,” 

“Well if you insist on going, you should take me with you,” Tommy suggested. He could hear the very unpleasant sound of Wilbur spitting water out of his mouth. 

“Are you insane?” George asked. “Actually, are you crazy? I'm not going to take you across an ocean so you can talk to Dream,”

“What? Why not? I always wanted to go somewhere nice and warm. Besides, I’m the same height as Dream. I can take him. If I had a knife and-”

“Tommy, height isn’t the only factor when you’re fighting someone, and we both know you aren’t 6’3,” Wilbur said. 

“I am absolutely 6’3,” He protested. “I could stab you if I had a knife and you were unarmed,”

“This is a useless conversation, Tommy, no matter what you say, we aren’t taking you to America,” George crackled through his phone. 

“I can just go myself then. I make plenty of money streaming, I’ll just ask my mum and she’ll take me to the airport-”

“Tommy,” Wilbur said calmly. “Your parents aren’t ever going to let you leave the country,” Tommy sighed dramatically. 

“Well Wilbur, I guess you’re right. Have fun in America! Don’t die!” Tommy left the call and immediately rang Tubbo. 

“Hello? I’m in school right now what’s up?” Tommy grinned. 

“Hey! Best friend! Do you wanna go to stab a green bitch?”

* * *

The last week had melted into a hazy cycle of coding, talking to the other Dream, and doing the bare things to live. He ate less. It was easy enough to convince himself to skip breakfast. It was easy enough to keep skipping breakfast. He didn’t even notice he had started to skip lunch. 

He chatted with Dream almost every day. One of them worked on the prison, the other coded. Dream had been coding so much that when he closed his eyes, he could still see the walls of text floating in front of him. He had woken up one morning confused as to how he had gotten in his bed when he was at his desk coding seconds ago. Turns out he had dreamt it.

The other Dream told him that progress was going well, how excited he was for them to finish their projects. The prison was being completed much faster than it would have in Minecraft, mostly because the other Dream had stopped playing the game fairly in an attempt to win it as quickly and effectively as possible. In other words, he had gone into whatever their version of creative mode was to get the resources he and Sam needed. 

The prison was his own idea. Dream wrote it into their season two script with the intention of it being for either Techno or Tommy. He showed the other Dream both the season two and season one scripts without much issue, and suddenly their plans became a lot more attainable. 

A week ago, the better version of himself told him that Techno was now in on their plans. Technoblade was on board, but his SMP self explained that he wasn’t only lying to them, but to himself. Techno had unfortunately gained too much attachment to Wilbur, and especially Tommy, which wouldn’t be too good for them in the long run. The other Dream assured him that Technoblade wouldn’t be a problem. 

So, he kept coding, his other self detailing every part of the ‘Minecraft’ world. He explained enchanting tables, combat, beacons, and commands. He taught him how he used their equivalent of creative mode when he had to. He told Dream how he ran the server, how to study each person, how to get them under your thumb early. He warned him about getting too attached to things, to people, and how it was best to cast anything and everything aside before it could be used against you. The ‘Minecraft’ Dream didn’t have a house, or pets, or precious items, nothing that could be used against him. When Dream asked why, he only laughed. 

“Gods don’t  _ need  _ things like that, if I want something, I can just take it,”

“Then why don’t you?” He asked while deleting yet another line of code. 

“That wouldn’t be very fun, would it? I will eventually, but it's  _ so  _ much more satisfying when Tommy gives me the discs instead of me just taking them,”

“I thought we were done playing games, so we can  _ win  _ and then get on with our lives,” He had just cackled into his headset. 

“We are,  _ Clay _ ,” he cringed at the emphasis put on the name. “That’s why we have the prison and why it’s going to be done soon,” Dream had just sighed and kept working. 

It had been exactly one week since he had talked to anyone besides the other Dream when he got the message. 

**The prison is finished, Technoblade and I are moving the prisoners in now. Are you done with your half of our project?**

**Almost,** He messaged back.  **I need a day or two more.**

**Hurry up Clay, I’m getting impatient.**

He finished the code that night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can see the finish line, I CAN SEE IT! We're almost there boys, hang on tight.   
> ALSO, if you don't mind shipping, I'm writing a DNF fic that I'm popping off on. You read Heat Waves once and it's allllll down hill from there, smh.


	23. LMAO that better not be Gogy

**This is your last chance to invite me,** Tommy messaged him. Wilbur put down his spoon into the bowl of dry cereal. 

**Fuck off,** he replied. 

**Okay, you asked for it,** Tommy replied ominously. He replied with a picture. Wilbur frowned before opening it. 

**Tommy where the fuck did you get that,** Wilbur didn’t even wait for a response before calling. 

“Aye, Wilbur, I knew you’d come around eventually!” He could hear Tommy’s grin. 

“ _ Tommy!”  _ He screamed. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Tommy just laughed. 

“My parents said it was fine, so I went ahead and bought it. They just signed a few papers and I’ve got the go-ahead!” Wilbur narrowed his eyes at the phone. 

“There is no way your parents said ‘sure Tommy, go ahead and fly to Florida’, I’ve met your dad,”

“They don’t care what I do as long as it pays the bills,” Wilbur froze. 

“You don’t actually pay the bills do you?” Tommy only offered a quiet laugh. “Tommy-”

“Yeah, I know, just… Let me come with you, we can make a vlog-”

“There is no way in hell I’m boarding a plane with you,” Wilbur said, putting his foot down on the issue. 

“I’m going with or without you Will, but do you really want me to fly alone? For  _ hours? _ I would never be kidnapped, no one had the sheer audacity to come near Tommyinnit, much less touch me-”

“Oh my god,” Wilbur dropped the phone onto the table and put his face in his hands. “Let me talk to George,”

“Also Tubbo is coming okay  _ bye!” _

“Wait  _ what! _ ” He had already hung up. Wilbur groaned into his palms before dialing George. 

“I’m sleeping, what's up?” George’s morning voice crackled through the speaker. 

“Tommy bought a ticket, and maybe Tubbo,” He heard the aggressive shuffling of sheets. 

“No, they did  _ not _ . I swear to god-”

“Tommy has his parents' permission, and Tubbo is technically old enough to go on his own,” Wilbur heard a muffled scream from George’s end. 

“So we can’t really say no, huh? Or they’ll have to go on their own,”

“They don’t have Dream’s address, we could just ditch them at the airport,” Wilbur joked. They both knew that there was only one real option. “I’m going to kill him when we meet up,”

“Same,” George’s muffled voice responded. Wilbur just sighed and added Tommy to the call. 

_   
  
_

It was freezing the morning they met. Wilbur had the misfortune of arriving first. Soon after, Tommy stepped out of his ride wearing  _ shorts  _ and a puffy blue jacket. 

_ “ _ Tommy, what on earth are you wearing?” Tommy pulled out his backpack from the car. 

“It’s warm in Florida, I figured I would dress accordingly,” Tommy explained while grabbing his suitcase out of the boot. 

“Well it’s snowing  _ now _ and they have bathrooms for you to change in there,” Tommy thought on that for a moment. 

“I am never wrong,” he declared before waving the driver goodbye. 

“Doesn’t your mum or dad want to make sure you get inside or say hello?” Tommy shook his head. 

“That was just my Uber guy,” Tommy said as if that explained things. Before he could press the issue, another car pulled up. 

“ _ Tubbo!”  _ Tommy shouted as he got out of the car. 

“Tommy!” Tubbo shouted back motioning to give him a hug. Tommy returned it hesitantly. 

“Wilbur, don’t say a fuckin’ word,” He muttered. 

“Oh no I won’t,” Wilbur assured him before taking a photo. 

“Toby, make sure to behave yourself, don’t give Wilbur any trouble,” A feminine voice said from the driver's seat. Tubbo pulled out a backpack, a plastic bag, and a suitcase from the back seat. 

“Mom, I’ll be fine,” He promised. 

“If you need anything, call, okay?” She urged. “Can I talk to Wilbur?”

“Hello Mrs. Smith,” Wilbur waved. The driver's window rolled down and a hand holding paper stuck out. 

“Here’s my emergency information,” Wilbur took the paper and shoved it into his pocket. “I hope you all know what you’re doing, Toby never asks for anything, so I figured this was important,” Wilbur offered her a smile. 

“What did Tub- Toby tell you we were doing?” He asked. 

“Visiting a friend in Florida, apparently he isn’t feeling well. Toby doesn’t lie to me, I trust him,” Wilbur blinked. They had a very open and healthy relationship. It was… strange to say the least. 

“He’s not wrong,” he said. She just nodded and pulled out a Ziploc bag. “Shove this in one of your bags, I couldn’t fit it in Toby’s. You’re welcome to share,” Wilbur examined the bag.  _ Trail mix _ . 

“Thank you,” He said simply. “Tubbo! Come say goodbye!” He called over to the two teens throwing snow at each other. It was far too powdery to make snowballs, but that didn’t stop them from flinging the dust at each other. Tubbo came running over,  snow falling off his head. Wilbur left them to say goodbye and went over to Tommy. 

“You have your ticket?”

“Yep!” Tommy said, pulling out the thin slip of paper. “We’re going to Florida bitches!” Wilbur just rolled his eyes. 

“Do not put anything on Twitter, Instagram,  _ anywhere.  _ The last thing we need is to be interrogated at the airport by stans. Dream’s mental health is his business,”

“Then why are  _ we  _ getting involved?” Tommy asked. 

“Because he threatened George first of all. Secondly, you know Dream, does he seem like the guy to admit he needs help?”

“He seems like the kind of guy who would drown,” Wilbur sighed. 

“Nevermind,” he turned to text George but Tommy grabbed his sleeve.   
“Wil, I know I joke around a lot, but I do care. Really. George messaged me a while ago to keep an eye on Dream, and I’ve been here for all of the calls with the AI robot whatevers. I’m as much of a part of this as you and George, I’m only here to help,” Wilbur offered Tommy a look of respect. 

“I know. Whatever happens tomorrow, know I’m proud of you. It takes a lot of courage to do what we’re doing. Whether that was your responsibility or not is a different story, but you’re here now,” Tommy gave him a soft smile. A car honked behind him making them both jump. 

“Why am I the only one who drove myself?” Wilbur asked as George got out of a cab. 

“I can’t drive, remember? Can you help me with my luggage?” George asked, pulling out not one, but two suitcases. Tubbo came up from their right and waved to his mother. 

“What’s all the luggage for?” Tubbo asked. 

“Clothes, washroom stuff, I don’t know how long I’ll be staying. Dream might need someone to stay with him for a bit if  he’s really that worse off,” George slung a worn-out gym bag over his shoulder and handed Wilbur the handle to one of the suitcases. 

“Can we hurry up? It’s like minus 15 degrees out here,” Tommy complained. 

“If you complain about the cold again I am going to throw you out of the plane the second we get off the ground,” Wilbur vowed, helping George with the luggage. 

“Why are you wearing shorts?” George asked over his shoulder. 

“I hate all of you,” He said, folding his arms. Tubbo laughed. 

By the time they managed to drag all of their luggage into the airport, Wilbur was starving. He suggested food, but George said they could eat on the flight. They made their way to the gate and stood there for an  _ ungodly _ amount of time. Tommy spent half the time complaining and poking fun at Tubbo, Tubbo spent half the time scrolling through Reddit and arguing with Tommy. Wilbur chatted with George for a bit before they drifted to their phones. Wilbur was as usual drawn to the hellscape that was Twitter. He frowned.  _ Why am I trending?  _ He thought back on the past few days, trying to reason out why he might be getting canceled  _ this _ week. Curiosity soon got the better of him and he clicked his name. 

**Content creators Wilbur Soot and GeorgeNotFound are spotted in London City Airport, leaving many fans speculating about their intentions.** Wilbur looked at the tweet under the description. There was a photo of him and George talking outside the bathrooms while waiting for Tommy and Tubbo with the caption,  **LMAO that better not be Gogy, he had some nerve showing his face in public after that shit jackbox game yesterday.** The tweet had 12 thousand likes.

“George,” He tapped the man’s shoulder. He looked up from his phone. 

“Hm?” Wilbur showed him the tweet. 

“Message them, have them delete it,” George ordered with a frown. “It’s none of their business,”

“They might just say no and leak the message,”

“The damage is done, but I don’t want Dream seeing the Tweet. If they won’t delete it, report them,'' George said simply. After exchanging a few messages with the fan, they agreed to take it down, not wanting to encroach on their privacy. He could only hope Dream didn’t see it. 

* * *

Dream saw the tweet just before he had decided to finally get some sleep. His eyes widened in realization and he scrambled to his Discord messages from George. 

**Dream.**

**Just tell me you’re okay and I’ll leave you alone.**

**You haven’t picked up in a week Dream**

**Is something wrong?**

**Dream I’m serious.**

**Don’t make me come over there.**

**I’m kidding.**

**Okay I’m less kidding.**

**Dream please.**

He ran a hand through his hair. This was bad,  _ really  _ bad. He called Dream. 

“Clay, this better be important,” Dream sighed in relief when he picked up. 

“George is coming, and Wilbur,”

“Tell them to leave you alone, you’re ‘friends’, right?” 

“It’s too late now,” he explained leaning back in his chair. 

“Alright, what are you suggesting?”

“We go. Tomorrow. The prison is done, my coding is done, what more do we need to do?” The other Dream sighed. 

“There are a thousand things I could teach you, but if you're ready, we can go ahead. This is going to be good for you Clay, I won the game, now we just have to keep it that way,” Dream nodded. 

“I won’t let you down,” he promised. “We have a deal, I’ll hand up my end of the bargain if you hold up yours,”

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” And with that, his better half hung up. Dream let out a sigh and walked over to his closet. He laid out everything he would need for the next morning, a green hoodie, jeans, and an axe. He kept the mask on his face. As long as he knew they were coming, he would be able to stop them. To stall them. Dream shut down his computer and grabbed a can of Monster from his mini-fridge. 

He went to work. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three chapters left, they are all going to be super long. Prepare yourselves.


	24. You got a girlfriend Keith?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> // cw, mentions of blood

Everyone was unhappy in the taxi. The car offered four seats, three in the back and one in the front. Wilbur paid for the taxi and got rights to the front seat, forcing George in between Tommy and Tubbo. He would have liked to have a window seat, but Tommy outright _refused_ to sit next to Tubbo after already sitting next to him for over nine hours. Tubbo tried his best to not fall asleep at the early hour of 4PM and was failing miserably. Tommy was out of complaints and just played some shitty knock off Tetris on his phone. Wilbur chatted quietly with their driver about the area. George just looked out of Tubbo’s window already missing London. 

Arriving at the hotel was somehow worse. George had to carry Tubbo inside who was out like a light while Tommy just laughed and took pictures. Wilbur paid the driver and they all went inside. 

The lobby was a lot smaller than he was expecting, a lot less golden, and fewer grand staircases. George shook his head at himself, he had watched too many American movies. There was a water jug with cucumbers in it. Tommy drank three cups while Wilbur checked them in at the desk. 

Their room had a washroom, a small television, a sofa, and a few lamps. The problem presented itself to them quickly. 

“I’m not sleeping on the floor,” Tommy insisted. 

“I’m sleeping in a bed, I paid for the room,” Wilbur threw his suitcase on one of the beds and began to unpack his essentials. 

“Tommy, Tubbo, you guys are young, your backs can handle it. One of you has to sleep on the couch, one on the floor,” George said, throwing his bags on the open bed. 

“Why don’t Tommy and I share a bed and _you_ sleep on the couch?” Tubbo asked. 

“I am _not_ sharing a bed with you. You probably piss the bed,” 

“I’m okay with it if you both are,” George said. He ended up on the couch, wrapped in a single blanket using the armrest as a pillow. He spent most of the evening rolling over the cushions, trying to find a comfortable position and avoid thinking. He eventually started slipping into his own mind. He was really going to see Dream for the first time tomorrow. George didn’t even know what he _looked_ like and had spent over nine hours on a plane to make sure he was okay. The regret and doubt started to seep into him. Dream could have had a power outage, or be on vacation, or a thousand other things, but no, he had to drag two teens and a musician across the ocean to… do what exactly? What was the plan? Drag him to a therapist, or get help from his family, _something_. George shut his eyes hard enough to see stars. 

He missed Dream. 

The real Dream, who called him daily, who practically gave him his job, his money, his independence. The one that got _George is gay_ engraved on his iPad, who synced his sleep schedule with his. The sore loser, the competitive prick, the loud mess. 

His best friend. 

George dreamt that night. He dreamt of his apartment. The photos on the walls bore nothing but empty frames, his countertops empty and blurred together, his windows revealing nothing on the other side. The TV was on, there were more riots. _More?_ Red wine spattered the streets of London, flowing through the cracks on the roads and sidewalks. Someone bent down to take a sip. The TV went dark. 

“Oh George,” someone called out from behind him. He whipped around, eyes dancing across the walls in fear. “You didn’t think you could hide for long, did you?” his breath picked up, George went sprinting towards his door. He grasped the handle, pulling, twisting, tugging. He heard the footsteps behind him. The apartment smelled of red wine. He shook the handle harder. “Boo,” Dream whispered into his ear. George jumped at the noise, turning to face the man. His back was flat against the door. 

“Dream,” he breathed. He could feel the man grin under the mask. 

“There is no Dream here,” George gulped. “Only God, _your_ God,” He put the axe to George’s chin. Red wine poured from his neck. “Start praying,” 

George woke up screaming. He felt a hot mark on his face. Someone shook his shoulders. Then there was water all over the place. George blinked. _What?_

“ _Tommy!”_ Wilbur screamed. “I said get him water, not get water _on_ him!” George looked down at his clothes, soaked from sweat and water from their washroom. 

“...what happened?” He asked carefully. His hands shook. He ran two fingers across his neck. 

“You were screaming in your sleep, Tommy slapped you,” Wilbur shot a look at the teen in question. “I tried to wake you up and Tommy decided to give you the first shower,”

“Actually Tubbo got the first shower,” Tommy said, crossing his arms in defiance. “The freak woke up at 6 am,”

“Jet lag!” Tubbo called from the washroom. Tommy handed him what was left of the glass of water. 

“Thanks,” George said simply, downing the glass in one gulp. 

“Tommy, why don’t you go find out when they are serving breakfast,” Wilbur suggested lightly. “Take Tubbo with you,”

“You’re not my dad, you can’t tell me what to do,” Tommy insisted, going off to do exactly what Wilbur said. The door closed behind them with a bang, leaving George alone with Wilbur in the cramped hotel room. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Wilbur asked, grabbing a white towel from the washroom. George took it gratefully. 

“Not a lot happened, I’m just stressed,” George said. It sounded convincing to even him. 

“You sure? You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” George sighed and ran the towel over his damp shirt. 

“No it’s fine, I might as well. I dreamt of, well Dream, but he was wearing his own cosplay and chasing me around my apartment. He eventually caught me,” He swallowed and gripped the towel hard. “He cut me, and said some… _fucked up_ shit. I don’t want to hate my best friend Wilbur, but some of the things he's said and done over the past few days have me… concerned,” Wilbur nodded. 

“We’ll know where to go from here by the time the day is done,” Wilbur assured him. “He probably needs our help and has been stressed out recently, but if he tries to hurt any of us, we’ll leave and try to contact his family,” George rummaged through his suitcase for a new set of clothes. 

“I suppose you're right,” George said. “I hate that we dragged Tommy and Tubbo into this. They should be at home, doing some stupid stream and putting off their homework,” Wilbur grinned. 

“Yeah, Tommy’s a prick. If it makes you feel better, we can tell them to stay back until we know it’s safe,” 

“I like that idea,” George nodded. “I’m going to go change, maybe take a shower. Bring me up some breakfast?” Wilbur nodded. 

“Yeah, we’ll leave in an hour or so,” Wilbur stood and made his way to the door. He gave George a reassuring look before leaving to go find Tommy and Tubbo. George sighed and folded the towel neatly. He tried to ignore the phantom scent of red wine as he opened the bathroom door. 

George insisted on paying for their ride this time, forcing Wilbur to file into the back seat with Tommy and Tubbo. George gave the address about a block off and the driver put it into his phone. If he recognized any of them, they were absolutely screwed in every sense of the word. George tried to ignore the shaking in his hands and scrolled through TikTok. 

“So!” Tommy said from the back seat clapping his hands together. “What’s your name?” He asked the driver. George rolled his eyes. 

“Uh, you can call me Keith,” he said. 

“I’ve got a cousin named Keith,” Wilbur said, not looking up from his phone. 

“You watch a lot of Youtube, Keith?” Tommy asked. George whipped around in his chair. 

“Tommy, shut up, I’m serious,” He said. Tommy grinned. 

“Sorry,” George turned back around. “Very sorry, George not found,” he had to stop himself from slapping his forehead into the front window. 

“Yeah, I mostly just watch Hulu, Netflix, that stuff,” The driver said simply. “You watch a lot of YouTube?” George grit his teeth. 

“Tommy, maybe we shouldn’t have this conversation,” Wilbur suggested. 

“Fine,” Tommy said, folding his arms. They drove in silence for a good ten minutes before Tommy couldn’t help himself. 

“You got a girlfriend Keith?” Tommy asked. George glanced at the driver’s phone. _Close enough._

“Here is fine,” George said. The driver pulled over to the side of the road and unlocked the doors. Wilbur practically dragged Tommy out of the car. George tipped the driver extra and profusely apologized before following Wilbur out. 

“If child abuse wasn’t illegal I would have just punched you,” Wilbur said. 

“If murder wasn’t illegal I would have already killed all men,” Tommy insisted. “Why were you guys getting mad? Don’t want to talk about your YouTube shit? Dream probably already knows we’re coming,”

“Tommy, a bunch of British friends of Dream in Florida implies we are going to visit Dream. Which implies that the address we gave him is Dream’s,” George explained through grit teeth. Tommy’s face fell. 

“Oh,”

“Yeah, ‘oh’ is right,” George said. “I need you to be serious, for the rest of the day Tommy,” He opened his mouth to speak, but just closed it and nodded. 

“Good,” Wilbur said. “I assume this isn’t Dream’s house?” Wilbur gestured at their surroundings, a bank and a gas station that bordered a shopping center. 

“Yeah, it’s just a ten-minute walk this way,” George insisted pointing down the road. Tubbo said nothing before walking. The three of them just followed in silence. 

“He has _how_ many subscribers and he lives _here?_ ” Tubbo asked. Dream’s house was surprisingly plain, just as plain as all the other houses on the street. 

“What were you expecting?” Tommy asked. 

“I don’t know, but it looks so… normal?”

“You live in a normal house too,” Wilbur said.

“He’s got a private beach you know. He’s a Tory,” Tommy declared.

“I’m not a Tory!”

“Tommy, Tubbo you two are going to wait back here for a few minutes while we talk to Dream, okay?” George interrupted. “We want to make sure it’s safe,” The teens nodded in agreement and Tubbo sat down on the curb. Tommy followed and started ranting about palm trees. George took a deep breath before starting the walk to Dream’s front step. It wasn’t a long driveway, but it felt like it stretched on for miles. What would he be like? Would he even be the one to answer the door? What if they got the address wrong? A million questions ran their course through his head while he followed Wilbur to the door.

 _Too late to back out now_ , he thought. Wilbur brought a hand to the doorbell. 

“Do you want to ring it or…?”  
“I don’t care,” George said. He swallowed. Wilbur rang the doorbell. 

* * *

“They’re almost here,” Dream looked up from his axe. 

“Are you sure? That’s poor timing. I would have thought they would take some time to sleep in, jet lag and all,” 

“It doesn’t matter, are you ready?” Dream looked over his monitors. **85%** , the screen read. 

“Yeah, once the program runs its course, we’re good to go,” 

“Okay, but are _you_ ready, Clay?” Dream just sighed. He was used to the name at this point. 

“Of course, I’ve been ready,” he insisted. Even if he wasn’t it was too late to back out now. He started this, with that fateful Discord call. The other Dream had only encouraged it with his mantra. 

_Would you rather be feared or loved?_ He made his choice, he made his bed. He would lay in it.

“Good. I left some instructions for you on the other side. Follow them very carefully. Now let's go through the plan one more time,” Dream nodded and continued sharpening the axe. He knew the other Dream could see him well enough. The wall between them was crumbling. “Punz will be waiting for you and will give you my spare armor set and some weapons. He’ll escort you safely out of spawn and will show you my base. You can use what you _need_ , I trust you know how to play well enough to be conservative and replace anything major. He’ll show you my instructions and you will follow them. Pay Punz accordingly, you should be able to access my ender chest. Everything you need will be in the instructions. Just keep the prison in order for me, don’t do anything stupid,” Dream took a deep breath. 

“Okay. I can do all that,” 

“Oh, and Clay?” Dream looked up from the axe. It didn’t really need sharpening anyways. “Have fun with your toys,” His voice sent a shiver down Dream’s spine. He was starting to hate it. Dream just nodded and glanced at his monitor. **90%.**

“They’re here,” The voice broke through his monitor quietly. “Make quick work of it. You know what to do if they become too much of a problem,” Dream reached out for his energy drink with a shaky hand. He drank the rest of it in one gulp. The doorbell rang. 

* * *

George held his breath while he waited for Dream to answer. He heard footsteps approaching the door. George pulled on the edge of his shirt. A figure appeared in the warped glass of the doorway revealing only vague shapes and colors. The handle turned. 

The door swung open revealing a very tall man with very messy hair.

“George? Wilbur?” The man asked with a familiar voice. George studied his face. Freckles, blonde hair, tall. About what he’d expected. But he sounded so close, so real it was terrifying. In the game, in his dream, George couldn’t be hurt. But he could here. Just the thought that he had to worry about that hurt the most. 

“Hey, Dream I assume?” Wilbur asked. 

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s me, what are you guys doing here?” Dream asked still stood in the doorway. He wore his own green merch hoodie because of _course,_ he did. 

“Could we come inside?” George requested trying to look behind Dream. 

“It’s like, a nine-hour flight, right?” Dream asked, ignoring the question. “Is someone hurt? Did something happen?”

“Dream, you didn’t answer our calls for a week. And you have been acting strange. We wanted to make sure you were okay,” Wilbur explained. “So are you? Are you okay?” Something flashed in Dream’s eyes before being shoved away. 

“Of course I’m okay, I just needed a break from screens for a while,”

“You’ve been online in Discord constantly, coding away at _something_ ,” George challenged. “Plus, you can’t keep pretending what you did to me never happened,” Dream’s jaw tightened. He looked at Wilbur, then at George. _Do you really want to do this?_ His eyes seemed to ask. _Yes._ Dream sighed. 

“Would you both like to come inside?” Dream offered, stepping out of the doorway. They stepped into the house and Dream closed the door behind them. _Tommy and Tubbo,_ he remembers with a start. 

“Hey, Dream-” Dream turned the lock on the door. A sinking feeling grew in his stomach. Dream pulled down the blinds on the windows.

“What are you doing?” Wilbur asked cautiously. George took a few steps back. 

“Don’t fucking move,” Dream hissed grabbing an axe from behind a wall. 

“ _Woah_!” Wilbur put up his hands in defense. “Dream let's talk about this,”

“We will. Walk. Down the hall. Now,” Wilbur turned and did as Dream asked. George’s feet were frozen in place. “You too George. I won’t ask again,” There was an edge to his voice. George gulped and walked with them. Dream led them into what he could only assume was his office. LED lights lined the top of the ceiling with a light green glow and a window covered with blinds was on the right. Fanart lined the walls while Dream’s Youtooz sat on his desk. Three monitors glowed into the room. Only one was on, with a simple loading bar that read **95%**. 

“You know the funny thing about Florida, and this neighborhood in particular?” Dream closed the door behind them. “Most of the people here are elderly, they live somewhere else during the summer when it gets too hot here. It’s winter, so most of them are back. But I’m a nice guy with a loud voice, so I took the liberty of making my office soundproof,” George’s chest hurt and he bit his lip hard. 

“Georgie knows I can get loud while recording our videos,” Dream admitted, grabbing an all too familiar mask off his nightstand before tying it on his face. “I wouldn’t want to disturb them. I can scream as loud as I want in here and no one would know, not even if they were right outside this door,” Dream tapped it with his axe. 

“What- what are you saying Dream?” Wilbur asked with a shaky voice. “What is going on here?”

“Well, today it is going to be especially good for two things,” Dream explained. George’s mouth felt dry. **97%** “One, no one will be able to hear your screams,'' George let out an involuntary whimper. He ran a finger across where he had been cut in his dream. Dream turned to him at the noise and grinned under the mask. “Two, you both play a lot of Minecraft, I’m sure you know how loud nether portals can be,” 

“Dream we have no idea what you’re talking about. Let us out so we can talk about this, we can-”

“ _You asked for this Wilbur_ !” Dream screamed at him. Dream grabbed the collar of Will’s shirt. “You insisted on coming to _my_ home and crossing the ocean, now you pay the fucking price,” He shoved Wilbur into the wall. Dream turned to George. 

“What? Nothing to say? This is your fault! You could have stayed back home in London and you both would never have to hear from me again, but instead, you came _here_ ,” Dream’s voice dropped. “Why? I stopped texting you, I told you not to come, you wouldn’t even leave when I stopped you at my door. _Why George!?!_ _Why!?!”_ Dream shouted shoving his masked face into George’s. 

“You were my best friend Dream! We care about you!” George shouted back. 

“Lies, fucking lies,” Dream shook his head and stepped back. 

“We were worried, you idiot! We wanted to make sure you were okay!” Dream turned away. 

“Stop lying to me for once-” Dream’s voice cracked with emotion. “In your godman life George. Just tell me you hate me,” 

“Look at me,” George ordered. Dream reluctantly turned to him. The words caught on his tongue. 

“Say it, George,” Dream whispered. Water dripped down off the inside of Dream’s mask, landing on the ground between them. Dream took a step towards him, putting their faces mere inches apart. “Tell me you hate me,” George looked up at Dream. Wilbur just stood there, back pressed against the wall, frozen in place.

After everything, did George hate Dream? For dragging him in here, for threatening him, for putting him and his friends in danger? How much of this could he take? 

George knew the answer and he hated it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehehehehh  
> I have some interesting news for you all, I have two alternate endings. This was a plan since the beginning and both are going to be significantly longer than the others.  
> Read one or both, idc. The next one is called "Dream wins", the one after is called "Clay wins". This story is very much about people and I want to make that more obvious in the endings. Let me know what you all think. :)


	25. Dream wins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ending 1 of 2  
> You can read one or both, it doesn't really matter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> // blood, minor violence,   
> I meant it when I said it was going to get all god complex abusive boyfriend up in here.

“I hate you,” George said. Dream gasped quietly under his mask. George clapped his eyes shut, the words felt like sacrilege, like an atrocity, like he had just broken something beyond the point of return. He grabbed George’s collar and pushed him over to the wall next to Wilbur. 

“Don’t move,” Dream said simply. He made quick steps to his desk. “Dream? Are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” someone responded. Wilbur slid George his phone. 

**Call the cops, we’re in the room with a small window, blinds cover it, there are green lights** the message read. Sent to Tommy Child. 

The breaking of glass shattered the melancholy and all three of them whipped around to the window. 

“Surprise bitch!” Tommy called, waving around a shovel wildly. 

“ _ Tommy! _ What the hell are you doing!?!” Wilbur shouted. 

“We’ve got a problem,” Dream spoke into his mic. 

“Backup?”

“Yeah, now, right now,” Tommy knocked off the glass that still clung to the window. Wilbur grabbed his arm. 

“I said don’t move,” Dream ordered coming at them with the axe. 

“ _ What the fuck!?!”  _ Tommy shouted, running from the window. 

“Other corner,  _ move _ ,” Dream ordered. They rushed to comply. George glanced at Dream’s monitor.  **100%** . Whatever he had been waiting for was finished. “Now, do it now,” Dream shouted towards his desk. 

George was thrown back against the wall by an unseen force, he heard Wilbur’s head crack before his hit as well. 

“ _ Fuck!” _ Will shouted next to him. A single note rang through his ears, piercing and screeching a horrible ballad of war. His  vision filled with blue light and George struggled to keep his eyes open. The storming note slowly ran its course, bringing back the sounds of the world. Blue snow began to rain from Dream’s roof. 

“It worked,” Dream said breathlessly. 

“Of course it did,” Dream said again. George blinked and let his eyes adjust to the shaken world. 

Right in the middle of Dream’s office was a blue sheet of glass, but unlike glass, it warbled and shone. It was the same bold blue of a nether portal.  _ The swirls inside are similar too, _ George realized. 

Tommy screamed. 

Faint sirens wailed in the distance. 

And suddenly they weren’t alone anymore. 

First came a man wearing a pink mask with short pink hair to match, topped off with a crown. His cloak whipped around as he spun in a full circle. He turned to face George and Wilbur. The man worked in a flurry of moments, George barely registered the knife before Wilbur screamed in pain. The blade stabbed through Wilbur’s hand and pierced the wall, pinning him. 

“ _ Ohmygod- _ ” The words slipped out of George’s mouth just before he slammed his body against Wilbur’s attacker. Somehow George was the one that ended up on the ground. His gaze met Wilbur’s, both equally filled with confusion and fear. Wilbur breathed so heavily George worried for a second the knife had entered his chest rather than his hand. George didn’t even notice the second figure. 

“You’re Clay?” An all too familiar voice asked Dream. The masked man simply nodded and pointed at the broken window. 

“He went that way, I don’t know if he’s alone,” 

A third figure appeared in Dream’s office. 

“I’ve got these two,” Wilbur’s attacker promised. 

“Follow me,” The second man said. The third and second men left out the window with surprising grace and speed. The fourth and final figure emerged from the blue glass. 

“This is quite the mess you’ve made for us, Clay,” He said. George just stared with awe and confusion. The man was wrapped in green, wearing a mask nearly identical to Dream’s. A cloak was draped across his shoulders, held together neatly with a fake eye. He was armed to the teeth with weapons he couldn’t describe. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know Tommy would be here too,” Dream explained, his voice much weaker than it had been just minutes ago. Wilbur whimpered in pain. 

“I don’t care about your excuses. You’re going to have to fix this,” The man said, disappointment and poison dripping from his words. 

“Of course,” Dream promised. Wilbur’s hot blood dripped onto the hardwood next to him. “Tommy probably called the police, they’ll be here any minute,” The man nodded in understanding. 

“We’ll do this quickly then. Technoblade, if you wouldn’t mind,” George blinked. A thousand thoughts bounced across every corner of his mind, all of them worse and more foreboding than the last. He glanced at the man holding Wilbur to the wall.  _ No.  _

“You, you’re all from the code,” George realized. “You all-” A boot slammed into his chest, his head smashed against the floor.

“I don’t have time to teach you the rules,” The green man above him said. 

“Rules?” He scoffed “I don’t give a-” Wilbur screamed above him, George turned to see what could only be Technoblade twisting the knife in Wilbur’s hand.

“Here I was thinking he couldn’t have been worse than my George,” The man above him said. “Clay,” Dream stepped forward. 

“Yes?”  
“Kill him,” George’s stomach dropped. “Quickly, we don’t have much time,” 

“I- uh,” Dream stumbled over the words. 

“We caught them!” An all too familiar voice shouted from the outside. Everyone turned to the broken window. A man with raven hair and a face he recognized all too well climbed through the window, pushing Tommy in first. 

“ _ Sapnap?!?”  _ George shouted. The boot pushed down harder. A piercing pain broke from the top of his chest. A thin trail of blood stained his collar. The man above him eased on the tip of his boot, dragging out the silver spike with it. George tried to calm his breathing and held the collar of his shirt to stop the flow of blood. It wasn’t nearly enough to seriously injure him, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell. 

“Sup, ' not George’,” Sapnap waved. 

“Bitch!” Tommy called. “Dickhead, dickhead, bitch, prick, di-” Sapnap grasped Tommy's hair and slammed it against the wall. 

“He doesn’t shut the fuck up here either?” Sapnap asked. Tommy groaned and crumpled to the floor. George knew better than to say anything. His hands shook. 

“Where’s George?” The man above him asked. 

“Dragging back ‘not Tubbo’,”  _ Shit _ . He was hoping at least one of them got away. 

“The police are going to be here any second,” Dream said quickly. “Can I just go?”

“Kill George, and you’re free to go,” The man above him said nonchalantly. Like he was asking for another glass of water, or 

where the bathroom was. Like it was a simple request, one that meant nothing.

“I don’t think-”

“ _ Clay _ ,” His voice lost its friendly tone. “I don’t ask for things, I  _ get  _ them. You are going to kill George, or you are going to die with him,” Dream looked down at him, helpless and bleeding. Tommy moaned in the corner, Wilbur let out quiet gasps as the blood started to dry on his hands. 

“You’re so stupid George,” Dream said. “Why did you have to come here? You could have forgotten I existed and lived your life in London,” Dream raised the axe. 

“I came here for you,” George explained, his voice cracking. “You always want more, don’t you? You had millions of people that  _ loved _ you, and you had to throw that all away. And for what?”

“Respect,” Dream said quietly. “And fear. People only ever want two things,”

“I want you to know, I hold you accountable,” George poured all the poison he could into the words. He had to make Dream hear him, to understand what he did. “You, not the other Dream, not anyone else. You did this Dream. I hate you for it,” He just nodded. 

“I know,” He let the axe fall. 

  
  


Tommy didn’t hear George die. He heard quiet laughter, he heard a scream, and then he heard the other George crawl through the window, carrying an unconscious Tubbo.

“I had to hit him with slowness, he’s too fast for his own good,” George said. Tommy sat up from the corner and tried to adjust to the light. 

“That’s fine. Take Tubbo back home, Sapnap, you take Tommy, Dream you can take Wilbur,” The cloaked Dream ordered.

“You called me Dream,” Dream said breathlessly. 

“You earned the title. Now go,” Tommy heard sirens acroach the house. “I’m going to show Techno a good time,” He heard the grin in Dream’s voice. 

“Wilbur is going to bleed out,” Technoblade said. 

“Pour some instant health on him, he’ll make it to the prison,” 

“Hey!” Tommy called. His head spun when he spoke. “I know the future! Techno, I can tell you what happens, everything!” The blade only rolled his eyes and uncorked a bottle of pink liquid. 

“I read your ‘script’, I know what happens, and I don’t  _ care _ . I’m never going back to that place again,” Tommy blinked. 

“What about Phil! You’ll never get to see him again,” Technoblade scoffed and poured the liquid into Wilbur's wound. 

“It tastes like strawberries,” Wilbur murmured. 

“You can’t taste shit!” Tommy shouted. 

“This is pointless,” Dream said, his voice wavering. “Let’s just go, I don’t want to be here when you guys attack law enforcement,”

“You can’t!” Tommy scrambled for an idea. “Our families will notice we’re missing and come with the entire fuckin army. Tubbo is a Tory, he loves the military,” He felt like a fool, talking about Tories while in a room with  _ the  _ Dream team and  _ the  _ Technoblade, not to mention George bleeding on the ground.  _ Don't look don’t look.  _

“He’s stalling, just go. We’ll take care of the military, we brought shulker boxes,” The cloaked Dream promised. Technoblade pushed Wilbur towards his Dream. Tommy ran at a million kilometers an hour. 

“Your prison has a flaw! You can escape!” Tommy shouted. Sapnap grabbed his collar and pushed him towards the portal. “If you put me in there, I’ll just leave before you can torture me!” 

“We’ll use extra guards then,” Sapnap pushed his face into the purple, and the world dissolved into grays and blacks. 

* * *

  
  


“What the fuck?” Tommy heard his voice before he had even realized he had spoken. 

“Tommy? Wilbur! He’s awake!” A familiar voice shouted. It was faded and distant. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. The world was surrounded in purple and black stone. 

“What the  _ fuck? _ ” he asked again. “Tubbo?”

“Tommy it’s me!” he raced to his feet, looking around wildly. Black and purple stone, iron bars, and a metal door.  _ No fucking way.  _

“Are we in  _ the prison!?! _ ” 

“Yeah, Wilbur and I are on the cell to your right,” he ran to the bars and craned his head to the side, barely able to see Tubbo’s pale hand waving out from their cell. 

“Wait, we’re in  _ Minecraft? The video game? _ ” 

“It looks like it,” Wilbur called tiredly. 

“This  _ can’t _ be real,” He pressed his back against the wall and slid down. Tommy looked down at his hands. They  _ looked  _ normal enough. He felt a buzzing in his pocket. No way he actually kept his phone. He pulled it out, it was definitely a phone, but not any brand he recognized. There was a single notification. 

**Wolf was slain by TommyInnit**

**Wolf was slain by TommyInnit**

**Tubbo_: You did n’t see that**

**TommyInnit: That was technobald e disguised as me**

**TommyInnit: I promsie**

**TommyInnit: Promises**

**TommyInnit: FUCK**

Tommy blinked. He didn’t do shit, which meant-

“Tommy!” Someone called. He turned to the masked man. 

“You  _ motherfu- _ ” He gasped and clawed at his throat. It felt like he swallowed his food wrong, but the food was just air. It was stuck, no matter how hard he breathed in, the air wouldn't go into his lungs. 

“I’m in charge now Tommy,” He could hear the grin in Dream’s voice. “The other Dream has whatever their equivalent of admin powers are, and I get them too. Isn’t that  _ fun? _ ” Tommy felt his face grow red. 

“Stop! Dream, what are you  _ doing!? _ !” Tubbo called. 

“Say that again,” Dream ordered. He didn’t sound angry, just desperate. “Say it, word for word,” Tommy felt some of the air reach his lungs. 

“Stop?” Tubbo said more cautiously. “Dream, what are you doing?” Tommy gasped as he finally tasted the air. 

“What the  _ hell  _ is wrong with you!?!” Tommy shouted. “You  _ murdered  _ George, like actually. He’s gone now, forever, why would you  _ do  _ that!?!” Dream sighed. 

“I didn’t want to, but some things are more important than friendship,”

“Like what?” Wilbur asked. “Your power fantasy where you get to bully children in an inescapable prison? What is George’s family going to think? Are they even going to know what happened? Will his parents hear that his best friend murdered him in a foreign country with an  _ axe? _ ” Tommy could feel the Twitter meltdown from his cell. 

“George didn’t deserve to die, I thought he was my friend and I thought we loved each other. Dream made it  _ very _ clear to me what you all wanted and even what  _ I  _ wanted,”

“Where  _ is _ Dream, the other one?” Tubbo asked. 

“He’s back in our world,” Dream said simply.

“I’m still trying to process the fact that we’re in  _ Minecraft _ ,” Tommy said. Oh god, his parents would  _ kill _ him if he ever got home. Dream chuckled. 

“This isn’t a video game Tommy, it’s another world that parallels ours,” Dream explained. “My code was so similar to what was actually happening here that it linked up,”

“My mum is going to be so worried,” Tubbo whispered. 

“Fuck you Dream when you die you’ll burn in hell,” Wilbur said. Tommy could hear Wilbur wrap Tubbo into a hug, clothes brushing against clothes. 

“Luckily for me, I  _ won’t  _ die,”  _ Respawns, _ Tommy figured. 

“How are we even  _ here? _ ” Wilbur asked. 

“A mix of ‘Minecraft’ magic and coding, plus a bit of help from the other Dream,” the masked man explained. “It was rough, but we're here nonetheless,”

“What the hell does the other green bastard get out of this?” Tommy asked cautiously. 

“Power,” Dream answered simply. 

“You’re being awfully vague,”

“I don’t have to answer your questions at all,”

“So why are you? What even is the plan? Torture us?” Tommy rushed to the bars and gripped them in his hands. “You know me if there's one thing I’m good at it’s running my mouth and being persistent,”

“That will make it so much more fun to break you,” Dream said, stepping closer to the bars. 

“ _ Don’t you fucking touch him! _ ” Wilbur shouted from the other cell. “I’ll make your life a living hell, I swear it,” 

“Dream please,” Tubbo called. “I don’t know what's gotten into you, but… what would the fans think? And your family, and what about Patches? What about Sapnap and Bad?” Dream moved his lips to speak but said nothing.

“You’re acting like an emo teenager,” Tommy said. “Hmm Snapchat, hmm yes I’m a selfish and sadistic prick who pushes everyone away,”

“Shut up,” Dream muttered. 

“You just couldn’t handle having people care about you? So you killed one of them and imprisoned the others? You call me a child, but you’re the immature one. Grow the fuck up you bastard,”

“ _ Shut the hell up! _ I know what I’m doing, and so does the other Dream,”

“Then what the  _ fuck _ are you two trying to do?!?”

“There's only so much he can do with a server of 30 people,” 

“What did you tell him?!?”

“Everything!” Dream shouted, grabbing Tommy’s wrist through the bars. Tommy tried to wriggle out of his grasp but Dream only held on harder. “I gave him the scripts, the code, the internet, everything. He knows  _ everything  _ now Tommy, there is nothing we can do to stop him,” 

“So you admit you want to stop him?” Tommy challenged with a cocky grin. He tried to ignore the grip Dream had on his wrist. 

“I- no. Of course not, he’s my friend,” Dream said with feigned certainty. 

“Remember the scripts?” Tommy asked. “You were supposed to manipulate me by telling me everyone hated you, leaving me all alone. Taking my stuff and letting me keep it every once in a while. Did Dream take your stuff? Did he starve you too?”

“It’s not the same, we’re equals with the same goal,” Dream insisted. 

“What's the goal then?” Dream’s hand fell from his wrist, sliding back behind the bars. 

“You can’t trick me, Tommy, I know you,”

“I’m not tricking you, I’m trying to open your fuckin’ eyes,” Dream turned his back to the cells. 

“Goodbye Tommy, I hope you enjoy your stay. You’ll be here for a while,” Dream left their holding area, letting the iron door slam closed behind him. 

“ _ Fuck _ !” He shouted, throwing his fist uselessly against the wall. “I was  _ so _ close,”

“That was pretty cool,” Tubbo admitted from somewhere right of him. 

“I’m going to kill him,” Wilbur swore. “I don’t care what happens, I’m going to murder him. For what he did to George, for what he is doing to us. I don’t blame the Minecraft Dream, I blame  _ our _ Dream. George deserves at least that,”

“We have to get out of here first,” Tubbo said. Tommy sighed and looked down at the strange-looking phone. TommyInnit and Tubbo_ were out there somewhere. Maybe they would come to save them. Maybe not. He tried to think over their rough drafts for the season two script. The prison was supposed to be inescapable, especially if you didn’t have help from the outside. They had no weapons, no knowledge on how to use them, and no one to look for them.  _ God _ , his parents were going to kill him. Especially if they couldn’t pay the bills. 

“Why would they leave us with phones?” He wondered aloud. 

“They’ll just appear back in your pockets if they try and take them,” Wilbur answered from his left. 

“How do you know that?”

“I live here  _ child _ ,”

“Who the fuck was that?” Wilbur asked from his right. Tommy whipped his head to the voice. 

“I’m you from the Tetris game, you’re the L’Manburg anthem guy, right?” Tommy felt his head spin.

“How are we here? Why didn’t you say anything earlier? How did  _ you _ get here? What does Dream-” Tubbo cut off Tommy’s ramblings. 

“Give him a second to answer, geez,”

“I’ll try my best to answer-” Wilbur started. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be crazy? Blowing up shit?” Tommy interrupted. 

“I don’t really care about any of that. My son is dead, the man who considered me a brother hates me, everyone I loved betrayed me. I deserve my fate,”

“Yeah, you are kinda a prick,” Tommy admitted. 

“Be nice!” Tubbo shouted. 

“No, he’s right,” Both Wilburs said at the same time. Tommy groaned. 

“I hate this. Wilbur, Minecraft Tetris ‘not my Wilbur”, please, what the hell is going on?”

“Well, Dream is very clever and very powerful. I know him, he was the first person I met, the first one to greet me when I spawned in. He is the first to welcome everyone, and he always knows when everyone is coming on,”

“Right, in our word, universe whatever, he’s the admin, he can use commands and shit. He decides who gets to come on,” Wilbur didn’t say anything for a moment. 

“That’s… very interesting,”

“Do you think he can do that here?” Tubbo asked. 

“It’s certainly possible. It would explain a lot. But that would mean every single person that’s here, he let in,”

“Why would he let so many trouble makers in?” His Wilbur asked. “No offense Tommy, but you’re quite the problem causer, and Techno is very… chaos prone,”

“Of course he would let them in,” The other Wilbur said. “Dream uses chaos as a tool to get control. It makes him powerful and dangerous, I saw that long ago and tried to use it  against him. I used chaos to get power for myself, become a leader of a nation, even if I didn’t realize it then,”

“He sounds like an arsehole,” Tommy said to the wall that separated them. 

“Yeah, he was. Kind of. I remember talking to him one day, he told me he could read people and I asked him to read me. He said he had a long time ago, and then told me that I needed people to respect and fear me, even if I didn’t know it yet,”

“That sounds about right,” Tubbo chimed in. 

“Where are the other Tommy and Tubbo?” Wilbur asked. 

“North, Techno let them go,” The other Wilbur answered.   
“They’ll come and save us, right? They love you,” Tommy tried not to let too much hope seep into his voice. 

“I hate the prick, he betrayed me. He hates me too, I’m sure,” Tommy blinked. 

“What? How?”

“He’s crazy, remember?” Tubbo said. Tommy groaned. “God, we’re going to die here,”

“No, no way. I’m not letting the bastard win, and besides, my girlfriends would miss me too much. I’m one for speeches, both in-game and otherwise, I can be a leader, I can be in charge. Tubbo and Wilbur, you guys are my best friends. Other Wilbur, maybe you deserve a second chance?”

“Definitely not,” Wilbur said. 

“Okay you can rot here then, I don’t give a shit. We’re going to make it out of here or die trying. We can contact the whole SMP with our phones, it might take some convincing, but I think we can get some help,”

“Good luck and good riddance. Leave me out of it,” Wilbur said. “I’ve had my shot,”

“Stop fuckin’ interrupting me!” Tommy shouted at the wall. “I have a plan, it’s our best shot, but you guys won’t like it,”

“I don’t like it already,” Tubbo groaned.  _ Me neither, _ Tommy admitted to himself. 

* * *

“Why Dream?” George’s voice echoed off the obsidian walls. “I loved you, your family loved you, Nick and Bad loved you,”

“Stop, please,” He begged. “Stop lying to me,”

“Do you remember saying you wanted Sapnap and I to live with you? What happened?”

“You never cared about me, you just wanted to hang out with me for my fame and-” He stopped himself, somehow it hurt more to say than anything else. 

“I’m not the one lying, you are,” George’s phantom voice whispered into his ear. 

“I hate you, I hate you, I-”

“You killed your best friend because you were afraid,”

“I-”

“You killed me because you were scared of yourself and of the real Dream,”

“Shut up,”

“Eret betrayed L’Manburg for his legacy and for power, for fear and control,”

“I did too,”

“He killed his best friends too, his  _ family _ . You know he regrets it because you wrote his redemption arc,”

“I don’t regret-”

“Yes you do, or you wouldn’t keep dreaming of me,”

“You’re just haunting me,” Dream shivered. 

“Why?” they both asked at the same time. 

  
“Hey Dream,” He said into the phone. “How are things going over there?”

“Much better than I thought they would,” The other Dream

responded. “Cutting the power lines was a very good idea, thank you for the suggestion,”

“I stole it from ‘The Fifth Wave’,” He admitted. “Didn’t really like the movie but my sister-”

“How are the prisoners?” Dream interrupted. 

“Behaving, for the most part, Tommy’s been the hardest. We’re still looking for the other Tommy and Tubbo,”

“They won’t come for their counterparts,” Dream assured him. “If you  _ really _ need to find them, I can always force Techno to tell me,”

“It’ll be fine. Yeah, pretty boring over here. How far have you guys gotten?”

“Like I said, pretty far. I have another meeting with some UN guy tomorrow. If the odds are against us, they’ll put up some resistance,”

“And if you’re lucky?”

“They put up a lot of resistance,” He heard the grin in Dream’s voice. Clay- Dream, his name was Dream. He hadn’t called himself that in a month. Dream shuddered, George was really having an effect on him. He almost told the other Dream about the dreams. Almost. Some part of him missed George, missed him a  _ lot, _ and regretted every stupid decision he’d made while sleep-deprived and starving and living on adrenaline. His power fantasy that had just hurt people, so many people and-

“Dream?” Dream snapped out of the trance. 

“Yeah, sorry I was thinking,”

“What about?” Dream asked casually. “Having second thoughts?” They both chuckled, one much more nervously than the other. 

“No, I’m in too deep,” There was a pause. 

“I see. You know, I could send you another pawn to have fun with,” Dream offered. 

“Oh no, that’s fine,”

“You sure? I’ve been eyeing this one guy for a while, interesting background, minor powers, _memory problems_. Easy target,”

“I’m okay, seriously,” Dream insisted. “I’ve got my hands full,” He really hoped he was telling the truth. It hurt to know he didn’t even know when he was lying to himself anymore. 

“Alright, if you insist,” And just like that, no parting goodbyes, the call ended. Dream sighed and tossed the phone to the other side of the bed. It would end up back in his pocket anyway. The other Dream’s bedroom, the one he had been sleeping in was dark. Cold. Lonely. No one even knew where it was, much less ever came to visit. 

Each day brought him closer to his brink, the day where he would collapse and sob into the obsidian room. It was a bunker, a fortress, not a bedroom. It lacked the fanart, the photos of his family, anything really. It had an ender chest, a nightstand, and a double chest against the wall. Nothing wildly important was in it, but nothing that he could ever really throw away. The other Dream had been  _ very _ careful to avoid getting attached to things.

He rubbed his eyes. He hated George, for haunting him and hurting him. 

“Ironic,” He could practically hear George say in the back of his mind. 

He reached back into his pocket where his phone had, as expected, appeared. He had given Dream access to the internet a while ago, and they switched phones before they separated. Dream opened the application only listed as a string of symbols and letters that let him see what he was missing. 

He read the first headline and squinted. The second headline was worse. He kept scrolling, closer and closer to doom, like a moth drawn to flame. Dream closed out of the app with shaky hands.

**You whispered to Awesamdude: I'm going to visit the prisoners today,** **get ready**

* * *

It was hard for the first month. Tommy lasted two weeks before crying, Tubbo only lasted one. Wilbur never cried in front of them, but Tommy could hear him sobbing softly when he thought they were all asleep. Wilbur was wracked with grief, swearing vengeance one day and becoming silent and sullen the next. He tried singing to fill the void of silence, but he quickly became tired and sore. 

Tommy tried to jump who he could only assume was Sam when he brought them food. Raw potatoes, of course. Tommy was left with a red scar courtesy of a trident across his cheek. It would make for a good story if he ever got out. He kept everyone’s spirits up for as long as he could, talking about what they would do once they got out. He brainstormed video ideas with Tubbo, talked about L’Manburg things with Minecraft Wilbur, he forced his Wilbur to get up every morning and eat. 

After the first week, Sam brought a new prisoner to the prison, Schlatt  _ of course _ . He shouted at Minecraft Wilbur, Wilbur shouted back, arguing over Fundy, Tubbo, L’Manburg, nearly everything. Schlatt slept a lot. He complained a lot too. 

Tommy messaged his alter ego nearly every day, mostly they just swore at each other, but it didn’t seem like help was coming. He tried messaging ‘Tubbo_’ but only got radio silence. He messaged almost everyone on the server and received nothing from any of them. 

It was nearly a month before Dream visited again. 

“Hello Tommy,” Dream said quietly. Tommy quickly scrambled to his feet. 

“You  _ bitch _ ,”

“Tommy shut the hell up for once and listen to what I have to say,” Dream hissed. “I checked in with the real world, it's bad. Really bad,”

“What the hell did you do?” Wilbur threw himself at the bars. “I meant it when I said I’d kill you, George loved you like a fucking brother and you-”

“Wilbur do you want to rot and die in here or do you want to let me finish?” Dream turned to him with fire in his eyes. “Dream went way too far. I gave him access to the internet, right? Wikipedia, Google, everything. He told me he wanted to make a deal, he could make me a god, immortal with all the power I could have ever wanted and control over the people that wronged and manipulated me-”

“I didn’t do shit! I’m 16!” Tommy shouted. 

“What did he want from you?” His Wilbur asked. “What the hell is his plan?” Dream took a deep breath. He reached behind his head and took off the mask. 

“What the fuck!” Tommy screamed.  _ What the fuck is going on? _

“Tommy, do you remember the movie Terminator? From the beginning of this mess?” Dream asked cautiously. “The AI was supposed to help humanity, or maybe use in the cold war, or something, I don’t really remember, but it wasn’t made to wipe out humanity,”

“Dream is trying to  _ kill everyone!?! _ ” Tubbo shouted. 

“No, absolutely not. He wants control. He thinks he's a god, and he’s right. He wants to be worshipped and to be in charge. Dream only had so many pieces to move around the chess table here, he could only whitelist so many people before it became boring,”

“So he does decide who gets on the server,” Wilbur said thoughtfully. 

“Yeah, he gets to decide a lot of things. I showed him all of what our world had to offer and he got greedy. He wants everything he should have had here over there,”

“Why didn’t he just get bored here, finish his game and  _ then  _ move on?” Wilbur asked. 

“That’s the second reason he wanted to come, and the second reason I switched with him,” Dream gulped and fiddled with the mask. “He said our world was dying and that he could save it. He wanted to take full control and steer us away from our fate. I kind of believed him, I mean, you guys probably don’t know a lot about the unrest in America, but even so, global warming, nuclear warfare, everything. We kind of needed a god to help, but he went… rather off the rails,”

“You’re fucking nuts, you know that?” Tubbo shouted, gripping the bars. 

“So you’re going to let us out?” Tommy asked hopefully. Dream said nothing and just moved to the lock. With a few clicks, the door swung wide open. “No fucking way,” Dream still didn’t respond and just opened Tubbo and Wilbur’s door. Tubbo came out first, rushing into Tommy’s arms. He didn’t realize how much he missed human contact until he had Tubbo wrapped in his embrace. 

“You  _ bitch! _ ” Wilbur jumped on top of Dream who didn’t move. 

“I’m wearing netherite and I’m trying to save you dumbass,” Dream just pushed Wilbur away. 

“I don’t want you to do  _ shit _ for me!”

“I’m doing this for  _ George,  _ not you,” That only spurred Wilbur on, rushing to pin Dream to the ground. 

“You  _ killed  _ him, you  _ arsehole! _ ” Dream only pushed him off. 

“Will come on, we have to get home,” Tubbo said. 

“I can and will use the admin powers on you,” Dream threatened. “Come on, we don’t have a lot of time,” Tommy  glanced at the sleeping Schlatt and crazy Wilbur. Well, other crazy Wilbur, he supposed there were two of them now. 

“Fine, but the second we get back to the real world,  _ I am going to kill you _ ,” Wilbur swore. 

“Fine by me. Now let's get the hell outta here,” Dream said. He led them down a dark corridor covered with black stone with chests lining the walls. 

“And this is the final control room,” Tommy said in a deep voice. Tubbo barked out a laugh. 

“Not the time,” Dream chided. 

“Whatever Dream,” Tommy muttered. 

“Call me Clay-” 

Then the walls started moving. 

Pistons and redstone worked in sync, bringing down the blackstone walls to reveal half an army. A series of curses and yelps of surprise erupted from their mouths. 

“I’m disappointed,” A familiar voice said. “I thought we were supposed to be the same person,”

“Dream?” Clay asked quietly. “What are you-” he was interrupted by the sound of glass meeting stone. 

“You prick, you betrayed us!” Wilbur shouted somewhere. Tommy blinked. The voices started to bleed into one another. It must have been  _ far  _ past 9PM GMT for him to be this tired. The bricks started to melt together before they met his face with a soft  _ crack.  _

* * *

Techno woke up surrounded by obsidian. He rubbed his eyes. It had been ages since he had slept on a floor, Dream always insisting only the best quarters for his best weapon. Techno slid off the mask, wincing as the warm air met his face.

“Good, you’re awake,” Dream said simply. Techno turned to the voice, the masked man sitting under an item frame with a clock inside. 

“Where are we?” he asked. Techno looked around the room, entirely covered in obsidian, a wall of lava cascading down one side. A small pool of water, a filled cauldron, a chest and a lectern. 

“Pandora’s vault, I’m sure you’re familiar,” 

“How did we get in here? We weren’t even in the asme dimension?” Techno asked. 

“Clay managed to free all of the prisoners and trap us in here,” Dream said, flinching at the name. “He’s ruining our progress as we speak,” Techno rushed to his feet. 

“What!?! After all the chaos, he’s just going to try and bring  _ back _ all the governments?” Dream nodded solemnly.

“He trapped us here, there really is no escape,” Techno shook his head and ran a hand across the walls. 

“Clay broke everyone out, why can’t we?”

“He had the keys and people helping him. We’re in the main call so there are no keys and definitely no escape. Clay is paying off pretty much everyone with the valuables from my ender chest and with his admin powers,”

“Can’t  _ you _ use  _ your  _ admin powers?” Techno asked. Dream paused for a moment. “Break us out of here? Give us stuff, break the walls, teleport us out?” Dream didn’t say anything. Dream reached up to his face and took off the porcelain mask. 

Techno just watched. 

He blinked. 

“What-”

“You’re clever Technoblade, I’ll give you that,” Techno just stared into the void that was Dream’s face, into the green eyes that shone in its darkness. He heard the voices start to speak up, but he just pushed them away. “Do you know what they feed the prisoners here?” Techno gulped. “Potatoes, raw. I didn’t make this prison to hold Wilbur or Tommy, they’re fun to play with, but you are  _ far  _ too valuable for me to just throw away,” He heard the grin in Dream’s voice. 

“What do you want from me?”

“Your life,” Techno smiled. 

“You couldn’t kill me in a fight, would you really stoop to killing me with your admin powers?”

“First, yes I would, second, I said I wanted your life, not you dead,”

“So you just want to watch me suffer?” Techno asked. “Watch me slowly go insane? I already have hundreds of thousands of voices screaming at me, watching me, and talking to me. Starve me until I’m begging? I’ll rush into the lava before you can even think of it. You might get my death, but you will not get my life,” Techno took quick steps to the lava, he closed his eyes, waiting for the warmth to overtake him. 

But there was nothing. 

He opened his eyes. He was in front of Dream again. 

“I want your life Techno, I want you alive. You can’t die here,”

“Why?” He asked. “I know you’re all for dramatics but-”

“You’re a weapon Technoblade, a tool, an agent of chaos. That's all you will ever be, and that’s all I want from you, but you betrayed me. You let Tubbo and Tommy go because you couldn’t just do what I asked. Besides, I was going to put you here anyways. I can’t exactly rule over billions of people with you running around,” Techno grit his teeth. 

“So you’re doing exactly what Tommy was going to do? Start a government behind my back?”

“It’s not a government, it’s a family,” Dream said simply. “Have you ever heard of a man named Cornelius?” Techno blinked.

“I don’t think so?”  
“Ah, well he was a murderer in a small little town that existed not too far from here. He was set to be executed in the morning for his crimes, but instead he made a deal with a creature that made him a god,” He heard Dream’s soft smile. “There was also a man named Hubert, he was a butler for a rich man that worshipped the creature. There were many more names, and many more men, but they’re all the same person,”

“Dream-”

“Exactly,” 

The words buzzed around them lighting the air on fire.  _ What are you? _ He let the sparks die down, let the smoke clear. 

“The creature wants to spread, it wants to eat. But you know, it made one fatal mistake. It let  _ me  _ have that power too. It’s not quite the same, sure I can kill you, but it will be worth  _ so _ much more if you wallow in anger and misery instead,” Techno blinked. 

“I’m sorry, I know this is kind of your moment, but I really can’t handle the tension,” Dream glared. “Chat, wanna talk?”

“I’ve said my piece, enjoy your sty, pig,”

**Blood for the blood god**

**Oh shit lore lmao**

**/rainbow chat**

**That was kinda hot ngl**

**LORE YEESSS**

**TECHNOBLADE**

Techno sighed, at least he wouldn’t be bored.    


* * *

Clay didn’t bother to wake Tommy. Of  _ course,  _ Dream would put him and Tommy in the same cell. Clay would have to watch Tommy rot away, watch him slowly sink into himself and lose his spark. Tommy would live and die in this cell right next to Clay, they wouldn’t ever see the sky again. God, what did it even look like. He shut his eyes to try and conjure a picture. 

“Dream?” Tommy whispered quietly. 

“No, just Clay,” He said softly lifting his head from his hands. 

“Is George still dead?” Clay nodded. “You know that was actually Fundy talking to you,” he blinked. 

“Huh?”

“In your dreams or whatever, I had Fundy pretend to be George and try to convince you to think again,” Clay pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“God, what even is real anymore,” 

“You’re asking me? I woke up in Minecraft with one of my closest friends torturing me,”

“So you always hated me?” Clay asked harshly. 

“You’re a dickhead, you killed George and got us here in the first place. Of  _ course,  _ I hate you. My poor family, and Tubbo’s and Wilbur’s and  _ your’s _ . They’re never going to know what happened,” Dream pulled out his phone. 

“Your mom took over your Twitter account,” Tommy blinked. 

“You have internet access?”

“Yeah, knock yourself out,” Dream tossed him the phone and curled up into himself. He blinked away the water furiously. 

“This- oh god,” Tommy kept scrolling. “They- most of the fans agree on what happened. They think our Minecraft doubles killed us and took our places. Techno- the  _ real  _ Techno has been talked to by your government a couple of times,” Tommy said with a quiet laugh. 

“Scroll up higher,” 

“What-” The cell went quiet. “Oh,”

“Yeah, it’s bad,”

“You weren’t kidding about the terminator shit,”

“Nope,” They went silent again as Tommy kept scrolling.

“This is your fault you know,” Dream choked out a sob. 

“I know,” The phone vibrated. Tommy groaned. 

“We’re fucked,” Tommy threw the phone against his back. Clay picked it up. 

**Tubbo_ was slain by Sapnap**

**TommyInnit was slain by Dream**

“Dream wins,” He said breathlessly. Tommy turned from Clay and faced the corner. 

“Shut up Dream. I hope you die so I don’t have to hear your stupid voice,”

“My name is-”

“You wanted to be Dream, you get to be Dream. All it cost was everything,” He didn’t know what to say to that. “You’re right, Dream. Dream wins,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be the second ending that picks up right after chapter 24. It's called Clay Wins and is *technically* the good ending. It will also be absurdly long and take an absurdly long time to write. 
> 
> Yes, I meant to say "enjoy your sty, pig", a sty is another word for pigpen, fuck you autocorrect. 
> 
> Also, read my other stuff, it's better than this (mostly)
> 
> I am so tired

**Author's Note:**

> Only a small percentage of readers actually leave kudos, so if you wouldn't mind just clicking that button, it would be greatly appreciated :)


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